Effects of leaves extract of Eichhornia crassipes on seed germination and seedling growth of Pinus roxburghii and Bauhinia purpurea

E. crassipes is threatening the aquatic diversity in famous lakes of Nepal. Thus, this study was objectively carried out to evaluate the effects of extract of E. crassipes on seed germination and seedling growth of Pinus roxburghii and Bauhinia purpurea, assess the soil nutrients according to proportion of extract and distilled water. Leaves of E. crassipes were collected from Phewa lake. Next, laboratory techniques were applied for oven drying, soaking, shaking incubator, centrifuging, filtering and dilution. Altogether 120 polypots, 60 each from Pinus roxburghii and Bauhinia purpurea were used for seed germination. So, 15 replicates for each block representing concentration of extract: distilled water (75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and control). Records were taken between 18 th March and 24 th April, 2018. Temperature and humidity were recorded on 0700, 1300 and 1900 hours. Soil N, P, K, C and pH of different concentrations were analyzed in the lab. It was found that the highest germination in 25:75 concentration specifically 14 and 11 in P. roxburghii and B. purpurea respectively. The diameter of P. roxburghii was the highest in 25:75 with 1.52 mm while it was the highest in 75:25 with 1.34 mm of B. purpurea. The average height of seedling growth of P. roxburghii was the highest in 25:75 concentration having 8.24 cm. The highest record of needles 12 was found in 75:25 concentration. The repeated measures ANOVA showed that there were significant differences in seed germination and seedling growth at 95% confidence level. The nutrient analysis showed that, the highest N%, P2O5 kg/ha, K2O kg/ha and C% were 0.22, 30.30,1359.60 and 2.56 respectively in P. roxburghii at 75:25 concentration. The R2 values of temperature vs germination was 0.16 and this was 0.01 for P. roxburghii and B. purpurea respectively. This research will be useful tool to utilize this for efficient organic fertilizer for forest nursery work.

Keywords: E. crassipes, P. roxburghii, B. purpurea, extract, germination, soil nutrient.