ENTADA PHASEOLOIDS SEED DORMANCY AND GERMINATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION.

Entada phaseoloids is a woody liana growing in the dense forest on huge trees. Its seed posses many medicinal properties and its main activity is anti inflammatory. Anti inflammatory activity is due to the presence of high saponin content. Hence the seeds are collected in huge quantity by pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies. Due to the change in climatic scenario and human intervention in all over the world the forest cover is shrinking and so the natural habitat of the plant is reducing. In addition, due to the thick seed coat and high saponin content, Entada seeds remain dormant for more than 5 years. With indeterminate overexploitation of seeds from natural source to meet growing demand by industries, the numbers of wild plants are decreasing day by day. Moreover as the germination is poor, natural multiplication of this valuable medicinal plant is seriously handicapped. Hence it has been listed as endangered. (Report,ayush, 2004) Realizing the threat of extinction, we have taken up the study of seed dormancy breaking methods and seed germination. The study was carried out to investigate the effect of mechanical scarificatin followed by soaking in cold water for 36 hours on the germination of seeds of Entada. The treated seeds were sown directly in the garden soil in small plastic bags. One seed with three replicates were used and 100% germination was obtained after 14 days.