STRUCTURAL CHANGES ASSOCIATED WITH DO~MANCY BREAKING TREATMENTS IN CARDAMOM

Abstract

Seeds of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton) variety
Malabar were found to exhibit dormancy due to their hard seed coat.
Experiments were conducted to study the effect of various physical and
chemical treatments for breaking seed dormancy. Treatment of seeds with
sulphuric acid (25 %) for ten minutes and absolute alcohol (80 %) for
30 minutes were found to be the best amongst all the treatments in
breaking seed dormancy. Scanning electron microscopy of seed coat
surface revealed the presence of mucilaginous layer over the control seed
and irregular shape lesions of various sizes over the seed coat of treated
seeds.