Keywords:
Papaya, Seedlings, Growing media, Plant growth regulators, NAA, GA3
Slow, inconsistent, and partial germination of papaya and significant seedling mortality are some of the difficulties experienced by papaya farmers. Hence, it is mainly propagated through seeds. We tested several combinations of organic media and plant growth regulators to optimise the germination and success of papaya seeds and seedlings in a high-tech poly house at Lovely professional university from October to February 2021–2022 under agroclimatic conditions in Punjab, India. The experiment was framed in six treatments of media, including Soil, Soil + Farm Yard Manure (FYM), Soil + vermicompost, Soil + rice husk, Soil + cocopeat, and soil + FYM + rice husk + vermicompost + cocopeat in a 1:1 ratio each. On the other hand, five levels of plant growth regulators (PGRs) GA3 (100, 150 ppm), NAA (100, 150 ppm), and their combination (GA3 + NAA @ 100:100 ppm) were applied. The experiment’s design was an f-CRD with 36 treatments and three replications. The mixed growing media (Soil + FYM + Rice Husk + Vermicompost + Cocopeat) was determined to be the best medium with maximum germination (87.33%) at 30 DAS, seedling length (25.60 cm), greatest seed vigour (2,250.46), and 90.50% adaptation success. There were significant differences between GA3 + NAA @ 100:100 ppm and the other plant growth regulators in terms of germination percentage (80.56%), seedling length (24.99 cm), seed vigour index (2,029.39), and adaptation (84.44%). Our results suggest that the use of mixed media (Soil + FYM + Rice Husk + Vermicompost + Cocopeat) with a combination of PGRs (GA3 + NAA at 100:100 ppm) is advantageous for generating high-quality papaya seedlings. The presented results will contribute to the propagation and adaptation of papaya seedlings to a new environment with their economic importance.
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All the facilities and resources feasible were provided by the Department of Horticulture, Lovely Professional University, and the authors are grateful for their willingness to come forward with flexibility, resilience, and resolution.