Abstract

Tephrosia purpurea Pers. (Kolinji) is an important green manure crop in South India especially in low rainfall areas. It has a special significance as green manure crop for Paddy, since it is not grazed by cattle and is drought resistant. As in most of the leguminous crops the seeds of kolinji have hard seeds, besides soft seeds. Due to the presence of hard seeds and other collection peculiarities, a good deal of variation has been observed in the germination behaviour of the seeds of kolinji grown in different localities. With a view to fixing the germination standard for this seed, tests were carried out at the Botany section, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Coimbatore, during 1962, with five samples of seeds collected from different localities of the State. From the germination tests conducted it was observed that different samples exhibited differential behaviour with regard to their germination. Two samples of seeds which recorded better and moderate germination were selected for pretreatment studies in order to improve the germination capacity. The results obtained are presented in this paper.

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