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Effect of Maturity Indices on Quality, Storability and Seedling Performance of Prinsepia utilis Royle (Bhekal) Seed

Background: Prinsepia utilis Royle is a wild woody oil yielding shrub of Rosaceae, commonly known as bhekal. Plant whole parts are all precious; their root, stem, leaf, fruit, and seed oil are used as medicine. Its tender stems, leaf and fibrous root decoction, are used in toothache and throat inflammation. Besides all this, the plant is also commonly used as bio-fence, apple grafting, a substitute for soap and cosmetics, and performing different ritualistic/holistic practices. Material and methods: The fruits were collected from Chakrata forest Division (Uttarakhand), India, in mid-May 2017. Fruits are collected directly from branches and separated according to their color into three sub-lots, i.e., green, purple-green and violet. Seeds were tested under controlled conditions for their viability and vigour at different storage intervals viz 0 days (fresh), 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 days. In the nursery, seeds were sown as fresh 0 and 30 days after collection to see the storage effect on seedling performance. Seeds were sown in four replications of 100 seeds of each lot in a nursery bed prepared with compost, sand, and soil (1:1:1). Results: Fresh seeds obtained from violet fruit showed 94.50% germination, followed by purple-green and green fruit with 90.25 and 77.75%, respectively. The germination declined during storage in all types of fruit colors. It is evident from the survival curve that violet fruit retained a maximum period of mean viability (P50) (71 days) as compared to purple-green fruits (59 days) and green fruit (42 days). The violet exhibited a higher mean germination percentage (50.88) after 150 days of storage period as compared to purple-green fruit (44.17) and green fruit (26.75). The seedling performance was significantly affected by fruit colors. The violet seeds significantly exhibited good values of as compared to green and purple, green seeds. Conclusion: Seeds obtained from violet fruits may be preferred for longer storage of seeds and remaining fruit seed color should be avoided for storage purposes.