Abstract

To assess the physiological maturity for harvesting the seed with high germination and vigour, studies were made in Cassia siamea Lamk. Sufficient number of flowers were tagged at the time of anthesis. The developing pods were collected at weekly interval and the pod and seed development were studied in each collection. The pod and seed weight increased with increase in the stage of collection and reached the maximum at 133 days after anthesis (DAA). In this stage, pod colour turned from green to brown. The seed extracted at this stage resulted in maximuin seed weight, germination and vigour potential. Since the germination potential and vigour of a species started declining beyond this stage (133 DAA), the physiological maturity stage for Csiunea could be fixed as 133 days after anthesis.

Keywords: Cassia siamea seeds, maturation, germination, vigour