Pre-sowing Treatment Enhanced Germination and Vigour of True Shallot (Allium cepa var. aggregatum) Seeds

The objective of this research was to sudy the effects of pre-sowing treatments to enhance germination, growth and transplanting of true shallot seeds. The experiment was conducted in the glasshouse at Tangtu village, Badung regency from August until November 2017. Germination experiment was carried out in petridishes, while that for seedling vigour and growth experiment was done in plastic pots containing sand and top soil mixture. Both experiments were designed as complete randomized design with eight concentrations of KNO3 (1, 1.5 and 2 M) and GA3 (100, 150 and 200 ppm). Those treatments were replicated four times. Seeds were soaked for 24 hours in each concentration of solution prior to planting in petridishes as well as in pots. Results of the experiment showed that GA3 significantly increased germination percentage, speed of germination (57-63% germinated seeds at 1 dap), index of seedling vigour, speed of seedling emergence (34,39% day-1) and percentage of seedlings having one true leaf (52%) at 9 dap. The effects of KNO3 on those variables were not significantly different from those of GA3 except on speed of seedling emergence. KNO3 2M and GA3 (100, 150 , 200 ppm) resulted in 12 days earlier in transplanting seedlings than control. Keywords— Germination, pre-sowing, true shallot seeds, vigour.