Effect of Dormancy Breaking Treatments on Seed Germination and Seedling Vigor of Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus spp.)
Ali Mohammed Jumaah *
Department of Horticulture and Landscape Design, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Kufa, Najaf, Iraq.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
An experiment was conducted in the laboratory of the College of Agriculture/ University of Kufa on 15/10/2025. The aim dragon fruit (Hylocereus spp.) seeds to investigate the effects of different concentrations and durations of gibberellic acid (GA3) soaking, and their interactive effects with germination indices and early seedling growth, as a factorial experiment (3 × 3) completely randomized design, with three replications. The first factor included levels of GA3 (0, 100, 200 mg.L-1), while another one comprised soaking durations at (12,24, and 36 hours). Highly significant differences were recorded for both main factors and their interaction, across all studied traits, according to statistical analysis results. The inter action treatment (seed in 200 mg.L-1, 24 hours oaking duration) attained maximum values across almost all indicators. This resulted in the highest germination percentage of 94.00%, accompanied by a mean germination time of 3.23 days, a coefficient velocity germination of 0.31, an average plumule length of 8.23 cm and radicle length of 8.93 cm, seedling dry weight of 0.05 g, seedling vigor index value at 1717.30 besides total chlorophyll content at15.63 mg100g⁻¹ fresh weight all being maximum values recorded for these parameters. It was highly significantly different from the control treatment (soaking in distilled water for12hours) that attained minimum values among all attributes studied.
Keywords: Dragon fruit, gibberellic acid, soaking duration, seed dormancy