Impact of Seed Priming with King Coconut Water on Growth and Yield of Okra (Abelmoschus esculents L.)

The pot experiment was carried out to study the effect of seed priming with coconut water on the growth and yield of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench). It was carried out with six treatments comprised of different percentages of king coconut water, T1 - 0%, T2 - 4%, T3 - 8%, T4 - 12%, T5 - 16% and T6 - 20% in a Randomized Complete Block Design.  The results confirmed that the seed priming with coconut water had significant differences in average values of plant height, number of leaves per plant, number of branches per plant, number of immature pods per plant, root length, number of seeds per immature pod, fresh weight of seed per pod, fresh weight of marketable pods per plant at each picking, total marketable pod weight (g) per plant, total marketable pod weight (g) per m² and total marketable pod weight (kg) per ha. But, average values of length, girth and fresh weight of immature pod were not significantly affected (P>0.05) by the seed priming treatment. According to the statistically analysed results, 12% king coconut water gave a higher marketable pod yield of okra which could be recommended for future use.  Coconut water is a cheap and readily available resource, thereby it could be used for enhancing the growth and yield of crops by the seed priming induction process.