Effects of temperature, moisture and salinity on seed germination of Artemisia annua L. grown under Tarai conditions of Uttarakhand

Abstract: Each plant species has its own set of germination requirements consisting of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The present investigation was aimed to study the effect of various extrinsic factors viz., temperature, moisture and salt concentrations affecting ex situ seed germination of different populations of Artemisia annua growing in Tarai region of Uttarakhand. All the populations were susceptible to changes in abiotic conditions viz., moisture and salinity levels in dose dependent manner. All, invariably, showed maximum germination at alternate day/night temperature (25/20 ^oC) than under constant temperatures. Among the different populations, V-IV, a non-pigmented, early flowering population was the most tolerant one as it showed broader range of germination percentage ranging from 66�6.1 at -5 bar to 40.0�7.6 at -15 bars and 62.7�7.0 at 0.2% NaCl to 9.3�1.3 at 0.8% NaCl, respectively.