GERMINATION OF OIL PALM (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) SEEDS – A FUNCTION OF HEAT TREATMENT AND PROGENY

Oil palm seed germination is time and heat demanding leading to high labour and production cost. The whole germination process last about 140 to 145 days. Shortening the durations of germination would lead to production of cost effective germinated seeds to the advantage of oil palm seed producers. This study evaluated the effects of pre-soaking seeds for 4 and 7 days followed by employing three heat treatment durations of 60, 65 and 70 days at 38-400C on the germination rate of three tenera oil palm progenies. The experiment was set up in randomized complete block design with three replications. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed no effect on the duration of pre-soaking on the germination rate and a significant effect of heat treatment durations on the seeds’ germination rate. Seeds heat treated for 60 and 65 days were not significantly different and equaled 84.28 and 85.69 %, respectively. However, they differed significantly from the germination rate of seeds heat treated for 70 days which germinated at 72.50 %. The ANOVA also detected a significant effect on the combination of soaking x heat treatment durations x progeny on the germination rate. Maximum germination rate of 89.01 % was obtained after four days of pre-soaking and 70 days of heat treatment for Cross 131, 82.16 % was also obtained after pre-soaking for four days and 60 days of heat treatment for Cross 132, and Cross 136 had maximum germination rate of 85.42 % after seven days of pre-soaking and 60 days of heat treatment. Some seeds of oil palm progenies can be germinated by heating them at 38-400C for 60 days against the 70 days considered as a standard. The results have a considerable commercial importance for oil palm seed producers since it could shorten the duration of oil palm seed germination and reduce the cost of production of germinated seeds.