Influence of Growing Media and Seed Pre-treatments on Germination and Seedling Growth of Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.)
Background: Seed germination and seedling vigour in cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) are influenced by growing media composition and seed pre-sowing treatments. Optimizing these factors is essential for producing vigorous and uniform rootstock seedlings for successful orchard establishment. Methods: A nursery experiment was conducted during 2025-2026 at the School of Agriculture, Vels Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies, Chennai. The experiment was laid out in a factorial completely randomized design with five growing media and four seed pre-sowing treatments, replicated thrice. Growing media comprised combinations of red soil, sand, cocopeat and vermicompost, while seed treatments included control, water soaking for 12 and 24 h and cow dung slurry for 12 h. Observations on germination, seedling growth, vigour indices and survival percentage were recorded. Data were analysed using ANOVA and treatment means were compared using LSD at P≤0.05. Result: Growing media, seed pre-sowing treatments and their interaction significantly influenced all parameters. The combination of sand + red soil + cocopeat + vermicompost (1:1:1:1) with water soaking for 24 h (M5T3) recorded the earliest germination (9.06 days), minimum days to 50% germination (13.54 days), highest germination (96.84%), shoot length (22.36 cm), root length (14.36 cm), number of leaves (11.60), vigour index I (2166), vigour index II (89) and survival percentage (96%), demonstrating its suitability for raising vigorous cashew rootstock seedlings under nursery conditions.