Abstract

Amaranthus hybridus leafy vegetable is consumed by the African rural communities as pot vegetables gathered during rainy season. Various researchers are working on the domestication and cultivation of this plant species as means to reduce poverty and malnutrition in the rural communities. A study was conducted at the greenhouse of the University of Limpopo in South Africa with the aim to improve seed germination percentage of A. hybridus. Seeds were collected in the wild and dried under room conditions for one week. Dried seeds were submitted to four treatments, namely, untreated seeds, seeds soaked in cold water, seeds soaked in hot water and seeds soaked in effective microorganisms solution and were arranged in a randomized complete block design with 10 replications. At 14 days after sowing, seed germination data were collected and submitted to an analysis of variance using SAS software (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC, U. S. A., 2008. Seed germination was 43% with the untreated control, 44% seeds soaked in cold water, 77% seeds soaked in hot water and 94% seeds soaked in effective micro-organisms solution. Relative to the untreated control, seed germination was improved by 2.9, 78.3 and 117.4% by seeds soaked in water, seeds soaked in hot water and seeds soaked in effective micro-organisms solution, respectively. The study revealed that A. caudatus leafy vegetable seeds need to be treated in order to improve germination percentage.