SEED GERMINATION OF TOMATO (SOLANUM LYCOPERSICUM) USING PAPAYA (CARICA PAPAYA L.) FRUIT EXTRACTS AS NATURALLY OCCURRING GERMINATION INHIBITOR AND GIBBERELLIC ACID IN VARIOUS SEED TREATMENTS

Seed Germination is a vital process in plant growth and development. It is very crucial in crop production. Control of seed germination can proceed if there are presence of naturally occurring germination inhibitors such as papaya fruit extracts. Promotion of seed germination on the other hand, can be obtain from plant growth hormones such as gibberellic acid. Various seed treatments used in the experiment were the following: T1-unwashed, fresh T2-washed, fresh T3-washed, air-dried T4-washed, fresh and T5-washed, fresh.Twenty (20) seeds were counted for each treatment. Distilled water as the germinating medium for the seeds were T1, T2 and T3. In T4 and T5, 100ppm of GA3 and papaya fruit extracts were used as germinating media respectively. The highest and the lowest percent germination was shown in T2 and T5 respectively.InT1 and T3 on the other hand, had 75% and 80% germination respectively.Papaya fruit extracts (T5) is considered as a naturally occurring germination inhibitorin tomato.