Assessing the early growth and biomass yield of four accessions of Dialium guineense L. wild seeds

Seed coats of some plant are impermeable to water which cause seed dormancy that prevents germination to be prolonged. For seeds to be effectively propagated in the nursery, it is mandatory to apply some pre-treatment to give utmost rapid and uniform germination percentage. The germination patterns and seedling growth rate differs due to some climatic conditions, geographical influence and differences in their genes. This study aims at assessing the growth response and biomass yield of four accessions of Dialium guineense seeds. Fruits samples were purchased at the markets in four different locations Oyo (Oje), Abuja (Gwagwalada), Abia (Ahia Ukwu) and Edo (Auchi). D. guineense seeds were pre-treated by soaking in water for 48hrs before planting. The germination tray was labelled as Oyo (A1), Abia (A2), Edo (A3), Abuja (A4), and replicated 4 times then placed in the propagator. The parameters to be checked are leaf count, collar diameter, leaf area, stem height and biomass. The mean leaf count for the 12 weeks, Abuja (A4) has the highest leaf count, for collar diameter, accession (A3) Edo has the highest collar diameter while accession (A4) performed best in mean stem height across the weeks suggesting that provenance has a great influence on the growth of D. guineense. The results conducted for mean wet biomass leaf and mean wet biomass shoot indicated accession (A4) Abuja yielded the highest mean value. Mean wet root biomass was significantly different within the first six weeks and shows no significant difference at the end of the weeks. For mean dry leaf biomass and mean dry shoot biomass, accession A4 proves the highest mean value while accession 3 and 4 had a comparable value of dry root biomass which is quite significantly different from the other two accessions which also have same values. This present study shows seed source affects the parameters checked, this may be due to their genetic nature or difference in adaptation to various climatic conditions in the areas where the samples were collected.