Innovative Technique for Enhancement of Seed Germination and Seedling Establishment of Cucurbits (Cucumis sativus L.)

Cucurbits belong to the family Cucurbetaceae. It is an important group of vegetables across the globe. Few of the cucurbits are also being used as fruit. Cucumber can be used as fruit as well as vegetable. The immature cucumber generally used as salad and fruit, whereas, mature cucumber cam be used as vegetable. Most of the cucurbits have hard seed coat, leading to uneven germination and irregular crop stand in the field. Modern agricultural research has brought hybrid varieties in most of the vegetable crops. Hybrid seeds of those crops are produced manually, thus the seed cost is very high. So, germination percentage of the seed must be very high along with the high speed of germination is desirable to minimize the investment on seed. To enhance the germination percentage, farmers have innovated many techniques. One of those techniques studied in detail in this edeavour, such as, germination of cucumber (Cucumis sativus). Doing this practice, the seed imbibed uniformly, which improved speed of germination leading to good crop-stand in the field. Farmers' technique of seed pre-conditioning and sowing of pregerminated seeds has been found better than the common practice of sowing in dry soil.