International Journal of Horticulture, 2025, Vol.15, No.5, 208-217 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/ijh 214 3.4 Plant stand and leaf development The number of leaves per seedling and plant stand percentage varied significantly among the treatments (Table 4; Figure 6). T2 (cocopeat + vermicompost) produced the highest number of leaves (13.8), followed by T4 (soil + vermicompost, 10.4). The fewest leaves were observed in T3 (3.23). Regarding plant stand percentage, T2 again ranked highest (98.58%), while T1 (control) showed the lowest stand (84.49%). Table 4 Plant stand percentage as influenced by different growing media on tomato seedlings in Kaski district, 2024 Treatment Plant stand percentage (%) T1 84.49 c T2 98.58 a T3 90.16 b T4 89.94 b T5 90.69 b T6 89.28 b T7 92.09 b Grand mean 90.75 CV(%) 2.71 SEm (±) 0.54 LSD (0.05) 4.32 F test *** Note: CV= Coefficient of variance, LSD= Least Significant Difference, SEm= Standard Error of Mean, Mean followed by different letter(s) within columns are significantly different based on LSD (5%) ***significant at 0.001 P level Figure 6 Number of leaves as influenced by different growing media on tomato seedlings in Kaski district, 2024 Note: Error bars represent LSD (0.05); Letters indicate significant differences 4 Discussion The findings of this study demonstrate that the choice of growing media significantly affects seed germination and seedling growth characteristics in tomatoes. Among the treatments, T2 (cocopeat + vermicompost) consistently outperformed the others across various growth parameters. The enhanced performance of T2 can be attributed to physiological and substrate-related mechanisms. Seed germination requires adequate water, oxygen, and temperature. Water softens the seed coat (Kumar et al., 2016), oxygen supports aerobic respiration to fuel early growth, and warm temperatures accelerate enzymatic activity in seeds (Hazarika et al., 2022). Cocopeat and vermicompost possess favorable physical properties, such as high porosity and moisture retention, which ensure adequate oxygen diffusion and water availability for seedling emergence (Alam et al., 2014).
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ4ODYzNA==