Impact of provenances on seed germination, early growth performance and survival rate of <i>Tamarindus indica</i> (L) in North Western Nigeria

Abstract

Tamarindus indica is well known with its values in Savana area. It is very important to determine the best location for the species in the arid. Therefore, the study was conducted from March to May, 2020 was aimed at determining the impact of variability on seed germination, early survival and growth performance of Tamarindus indica at the nursery stages from four provenances within the North Western Nigeria. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four (4) treatments: Jigawa, Bauchi, Kano and Yobe (provenances). A total of 80 pods were used (i.e 10 pods per site) pods were sown in a mixture of top soil and river sand at the ratio of 2:1. Germination was assessed for six (6) weeks and germination percentage (%) determined. The growth parameters measured include: Pod length (cm), leaf area (cm2) stem diameter (mm), shoot height (cm). Analysis of variance showed that there was significant difference (p<0.05) among the growth parameters except for leaf area. The result showed that Jigawa provenance had the best morphological characteristics in terms of pod length (4.5cm) shoot height (14.9cm) stem diameter (0.48mm), germination percentage (100%) and seed germination survival rate (100%). Therefore, it is recommended that nursery attendants, growers and consumers should source for better germplasm (pod) of the species from Jigawa State.