EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND STORAGE DURATION ON VIABILITY OF EAST AFRICAN SANDALWOOD

Abstract

East African Sandalwood (Osyris lanceolata) is highly valued in the manufacturing of perfumery and medicinal products, and there is need for its domestication. Seed storage behavior was determined as the information is important in planning and implementing the species planting programmes and conservation strategies. Fresh seeds and those dried to a moisture content of 7% were placed in airtight plastic vials and stored at a constant temperature of 200 C, ambient temperature and in a cold room set at -200 C, respectively. At 0, 3, 9, 12 and 24 months of storage, seeds were subjected to a germination test. At month zero, dried seeds had scored better in mean parameter values for germination capacity (G), mean germination time (MT) and germination value (GV) than fresh seeds. Germination capacity of seed stored fresh dropped rapidly by the third month in all the storage environments from 69% to mean less than 16% making it inconsequential to test for storability. Germination capacity of dried seed dropped gradually in all the storage environments.. Dried seed stored at ambient and constant temperatures registered G of over 70% in 3 months and over 60 % at 3 to 9 months. By 24 months, the G dropped drastically to 2% for seed stored at ambient and constant temperatures and to 29% for seed stored in cold room. There was significant difference in G, GV and MT (p<0.01) depending on the period of storage.