Assessment of germination seedling substrate and growth of Plukenetia Volubilis L. Sacha Inchi

Plukenetia volubilis L. is an Amazon species commonly known as sacha inchi, considered a high agro-industrial potential plant due to high nutritional values. Despite some published propagation studies of sacha inchi, to the best of our knowledge, there is little information about its dormancy and growth pattern, especially from Malaysia. Thus, this study aimed was to assess seed germination, seedling substrate requirement and growth pattern of sacha inchi. The germination test was using four different treatments: acid scarification, mechanical scarification, an overnight soak in water, and hot water. Two different scarification methods were conducted using sulphuric acid with a concentration of 20% (98.08g/mol) and mechanical scarification using sandpaper (grade 80) sanding gently about 30 sec to 1 min. Hot water treatment was done by soaking the seeds in 82_C of hot water until the temperature drops to room temperature and control treatment, an overnight soak in water. Seedling substrate requirement test was using sand and peat moss, seedlings were placed at the temperature of 25-30_C with continuous light for 15 days. The growth pattern test was conducted under shade house with no treatment to study its habitat. In this study, the best way to break the seed dormancy of Plukenetia volubilis L. was by using mechanical scarification (64% germinated seeds) to promote germination and considered a feasible method. For seedling substrate requirement, peatmoss stimulated leaves growth and sand promoted root growth. The growth pattern of Plukenetia volubilis L. was obtained in a positive quadratic equation for the number of leaves, leaf area (cm2) and height (cm) over day after transplant (DAT).