International Journal of Horticulture, 2026, Vol.16, No.2, 77-87 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/ijh 84 3.5 Dry shoot weight and dry root weight (mg) The results on dry shoot weight and dry root weight are presented in Table 6. Dry shoot weight and root weight were very highly significant for different priming treatments. Significantly, the highest dry shoot weight was found in KNO3 1% (240.00 mg), while the lowest dry shoot weight was found in KNO3 3% (194.67 mg) which was not significantly different from control (197.34 mg), Vermiwash 10% (204.00 mg) and Vermiwash 20% (209.67 mg). Significantly the highest dry root weight (46.00 mg) was found in GA3 200 ppm, while the lowest dry root weight was found in KNO3 3% (27.34 mg) which was not significantly different from GA3 100 ppm (30.00 mg), Vermiwash 10% (31.34 mg), control (32.00 mg) Vermiwash 20% (32.67 mg) and KNO3 1% (32.67 mg). Table 6 Effect of seed priming on dry shoot weight and dry root weight per seedling of cucumber (Cucumis sativus cv. Bhaktapur Local) in Syangja, Nepal, 2024 Treatments Dry shoot weight (mg) Dry root weight (mg) Control 197.34d 32.00cd Hot water (45C for 5 minutes) 218.34bc 38.00b GA3 100 ppm 220.34bc 30.00d GA3 200 ppm 223.67b 46.00a KNO3 1% 240.00a 32.67cd KNO3 3% 194.67d 27.34d Cow urine 5% 218.67bc 36.00bc Cow urine 10% 222.00bc 39.34b Vermiwash 10% 204.00cd 31.34cd Vermiwash 20% 209.67d 32.67cd CV(%) 4.4 8.37 LSD0.05 16.20 4.92 Grandmean 214.86 34.53 SEm() 5.49 1.67 F-test *** *** Note: Mean within the column followed by the same letter/s are not significantly different at 5% level of significance by DMRT. * Significant at 5% (p<0.05), ** Significant at 1% (p<0.01), *** Significant at 0.1% (p<0.001), NS= non-significant at 5% (p>0.05), SEm= Standard Error of mean, LSD= Least significant difference, CV= Coefficient of variance 4 Discussion Germination behavior and seedling growth of cucumber were significantly influenced by seed priming. Among the treatments, hot water (45 C) priming showed superior performance in germination percentage and seed vigour indices, while KNO3 1% outperformed in speed of germination. GA3 200 ppm showed comparatively better dry matter accumulation. In contrast, control showed inferior performance across all parameters. Hot water treatment enhances imbibition and stimulates several germination related-process, including the synthesis of GA3, RNA, protein synthesis and DNA replication. This in turn may have weakened the endosperm, thereby promoting increased germination rate (Black and Bewley, 2000). KNO3 Priming improved emergence and its time significantly in both carrot seed and Clonostachys rosea cv. IK726 (Bennett et al., 2009). Similar results were reported by Tania et al. (2019) in bitter gourd. Faster germination in seed priming with KNO3 1%, than non-priming is likely due to its stimulation of metabolic processes during imbibition, which prepare seed for root emergence (Sowmya et al., 2013). This reduces mean germination time (Sowmya et al., 2022) and days to 50% germination. Similar finding was reported by Shim et al. (2009), where seed priming improves days to 50% germination than non- primed seed. According to Singh et al. (2019), seed soaked at (50-52) °C exhibited the highest seedling vigour index-I indicating that this temperature range significantly enhance seedling vigour. KNO3 1% also recorded to show similar result (Sowmya et al., 2013). GA3 200 ppm recorded higher SVI-I which was in accordance with Badu et al. (2022).
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ4ODYzNA==