EFFECT OF DIFFERENT NURSERY GROWING MEDIA ON SEED GERMINATION AND SEEDLING GROWTH OF PAPAYA (CARICA PAPAYA L.)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58475/2026.64.1.1244Keywords:
Carica papaya, emergence, coco peat, soil-less material, survival percentage, PakistanAbstract
The current experiment was conducted at fruit plant nursery of Horticultural Research Institute, (HRI), Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, (AARI), Faisalabad during 2023-24 to evaluate the impact of different growing nursery materials and their combinations on emergence and growth of papaya seedling. Seven treatments were applied viz., T1 [Pond soil: sand (1:1)]; T2 (Pond soil: sand (1:1) and 1 cm coco peat on top); T3 (Pond soil: leaf manure 1:1); T4 (Pond soil: leaf manure 1:1 and 1 cm coco peat on top), T5 (Pond soil: vermicompost 1:1), T6 (Pond soil: vermicompost 1:1, and 1 cm coco peat on top), and T7 (peat moss alone). The experiment was laid out according to Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) having four replications. The treatments exhibited significant variations. Among them T2 produced the best results showing the highest germination rate (94.37 %), vigor index (1819.7), root number (24.75), and root length (18.48 cm), while T7 showed the the poorest performance. The results suggested that incorporation of cocopeat into soil-based nursery material improves substrate quality and root development. Therefore, it is recommended that for successful raising of papaya nursery the growing media composed of Pond soil: sand (1:1) and 1 cm coco peat on top can be used effectively for producing vigorous papaya seedlings suitable for transplanting.
Downloads
References
Abdul-Baki, A. and J.D. Anderson. 1973. Vigor Determination in soybean seed by multiple criteria. Crop Science. 13: 630-633.
Awang, Y., A. S. Shaharom, R. B. Mohamad and A. Selamat. 2009. Chemical and physical characteristics of cocopeat-based media mixtures and their effects on the growth and development of Celosia cristata. American Journal of Agricultural and Biological Sciences. 4(1): 63–71.
Basu, S. and S.P.C. Groot. 2023. Seed vigour and invigoration. In S. Basu (Ed.), Seed Science and Technology. Springer. org/10.1007/978-981-19-5888-5_4 https://doi.
Bhardwaj, R. L. 2013. Effect of nine different propagation media on seed germination and the initial performance of papaya (Carica papaya L.) seedlings. Journal of Horticultural Science & Biotechnology. 88(5): 531-536.
Bhardwaj, R. L. 2014. Effect of growing media on seed germination and seedling growth of papaya cv. Red lady. African journal of plant science. 8(4): 178- 184.
Bhat, N. R., M.K. Suleiman, B. Thomas, V.S. Lekha, and P. George. 2013. Organic amendments in desert agriculture—impact on soil microbial activity and fertility. Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America. 4(2): 171–180.
Bishnoi, N., S. E. Topno and V. Bahadur. 2024. Effect of Growing media and GA3 on Germination and Growth of Papaya (Carica papaya L.) c.v. Tiwan-7. Journal of Advances in Biology & Biotechnology. 27(6): 428–433. https://doi. org/10.9734/jabb/2024/v27i6901
Cantliffe D.J., J.Z. Castellanos, A.V. Paranjpe. 2007. Yield and quality of greenhouse-grown strawberries as affected by nitrogen level in coco coir and pine bark media. Proc. Fla. State Hort. Sic. 120:157-161.
Chen, J. M., R. Wang, Y. Liu, L. He, H. Croft, X. Luo, H. Wang, N.G. Smith, T.F. Keenan, I.C. Prentice, Y. Zhang, W. Ju and N. Dong. 2022. Global datasets of leaf photosynthetic capacity for ecological and earth system research. Earth System Science Data. 14: 4077–4093
Debnath, S., S. Datta, T. Mondal, S. Kundu, and F. K. Bauri. 2025. “Influence of different soil less media on seed germination and seedling growth of Papaya Cv. Red Lady”. Journal of Advances in Biology & Biotechnology. 28 (6):556-63.
Desai, A., B. Panchal, A. Trivedi and D. Prajapati. 2017. Studies on seed germination and seedling growth of papaya (Carica papaya L.) cv. Madhu Bindu as influenced by media, GA3 and cow urine under net house condition. J. Pharmacog. Phytochem. 6(4):1448-1451.
FV & CS, 2023. Fruit, vegetables and condiments statistics of Pakistan 2021–22. Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Islamabad, Government of Pakistan.
Guzmán-Ramón, E., R. Gómez-Alvarez, J.M. Pat Fernández, H.A.J. Pohlan, J.C. Álvarez- Rivero and V. Geissen. 2010. Agronomic, economic and ecological aspects of papaya (Carica papaya) production in Tabasco, Mexico. African Journal of Plant Science. 4(4): 99-106.
Kim. S.K., Y. K. Yoo. 2024. Mixing ratio of peat moss, coco peat, and perlite affects the physicochemical properties of media and growth of Tetragonia tetragonioides. https:// doi.org/10.7235/HORT.20240002.
Kumar, A., J. Singh, P. Verma and M. Kundana. 2024. Seed germination and seedling growth as pretentious by various growing media in Red Lady-786 papaya. Journal of Applied and Natural Science. 16(3): 1135–1140.
Kumawat R, S. Maji, G. Govind, D.C. Meena.2014. Studies on seed germination and seedling growth of papaya (Carica papaya L.) cv. Coorg Honey Dew as influenced by media and chemicals. Journal of Crop and Weed. 10 (2):281-286.
Ramteke V, D.H. Paithankar, E.P. Ningot, V.K. Kurrey. 2015. Effect of GA3 and propagation media on germination, growth and vigour of papaya cv. Coorg Honey Dew. International Quarterly Journal of Life Science.10(3):1011-1016.
Raviv, M., R. Wallach, T.J. Blom. 2004. The effect of physical properties of soilless media on plant performance – a review. Acta Horticulturae. 644: 251–259.
Rawat. R., A. Vasishth and V. Kumar. 2022. Effect of growing media on growth parameters of two important aromatic crops of Garhwal Himalaya. Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry. 9(2): 417-421.
Sahu, A.K., B.M Tandel and N.K Patel. 2022. Effect of growing media on germination, growth and nutrients uptake of papaya seedlings (Carica papaya L.) The Pharma Innovation Journal. 11(12): 682-686.
Sharma, S.K., K.K. Zote, U.M. Kadam, S.P.S. Tomar and A.U. Sonawane. 2010. Economics of papaya cultivation at farmers’ fields. Acta Horticulturae. 851: 53-60.
Sharma. P., R. K. Yadav, M. C. Jain and M. C. Bhateshwar. 2021. Growing media and c o w urine influences the seed germination and seedling growth of Papaya (Carica papaya L.). Journal of Crop and Weed. 17(3): 253-259.
Shrivastava, P., V.M. Prasad, H.K. Panigrahi, V. Bahdur and Y. K. Singh. 2021. Effect of different Types of media and Containers on Germination, Survival, Growth and Establishment of Papaya (Carica papaya L.) cv. Red Lady under Protected Condition. Biological Forum– An International Journal. 13(2): 670-675.
Sinha, R.K., S. Herat, D. Valani and K. Chauhan. 2009. Earthworms vermicompost: a powerful crop nutrient over the conventional compost & protective soil conditioner against the destructive chemical fertilizers for food safety and security. American-Eurasian Journal of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences. 5(S): 1-55
Steel, R.G.D., J.H. Torrie and D.A. Dickey. 1997. Principals and procedures of statistics: A biometric approach. 3rd Ed. McGraw Hill Book Co., New York.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Malik Mohsin Abbas, M. Amna Jamil Kanwal, Maryam Nasir, Nida Mahreen, Sahar Rasheed, Naseem Sharif, Qamar Shahzad Anjum (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
HEC Recognised Y- Category Journal