369 FUTA Journal of Research in Sciences, 2015 (2): 369-377 EFFECT OF LIGHT REGIME AND WATER STRESS ON GERMINATION AND SEEDLING GROWTH OF MORINGA OLEIFERA LAM. T.E. Akinyemi and A.M.A. Sakpere* Department of Botany, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. *Corresponding author’s E-mail: asakpere@yahoo.com ABSTRACT The effect of light, sowing depth and water stress on seed germination and seedling growth of Moringa oleifera was studied. Moringa oleifera seeds were planted in Petri dishes under ambient conditions and placed in two growing conditions of light and dark and variation of water stress levels. Petri dishes were monitored daily over a period of 15 days, to record differences in germination percentage, rate of germination and seedling growth. In addition, seedling growth parameters such as height, number and area of leaf, dry weights of root and shoot were measured. The ratio of root to shoot (RSR) was also determined. There were no significant differences in percentage germination in light and in the dark. Germination decreased while percentage mortality increased with increasing water stress levels. The speed of germination from planted seeds was highest in 1.5 cm (77.8%) sowing depth and lowest in 6.0 cm (55.6%) depth. There was significant effect of water stress on growth of established seedlings after a period of 4 weeks of being subjected to water stress. This study indicates that Moringa oleifera seedling is sensitive to growing environmental conditions such as soil moisture status. The results also suggest that drought tolerance depends on root characters, at least, morphologically. Keywords: Moringa oleifera, germination, light, water stress, drought tolerance, INTRODUCTION Moringa oleifera Lam., a member of the genus Moringa belongs to the monogeneric Moringaceae family. Moringa oleifera Lam. (syn.Moringa pterygosperma Gaertn.) is the most common, versatile and extensively utilized of the Moringa species (Mahmood et al., 2010). Its uses range from nutrition to medicine. Virtually the entire tree can be utilized, for example as a nutritious food for human consumption, animal forage, green manure, water purifier, medicine and even as a biofuel (Siddhuraju and Becker, 2003; Anwar et al., 2007; Rashid et. al., 2008). Moringa oleifera is a fast-growing, perennial, medium-sized tree reaching a maximum height of between 7-12m. Moringa is propagated sexually through seeds and vegetatively through stem cuttings (Fuglie, 1999; Church World Service, 2000). While the stem cutting method is easy and successful for tree propagation, the recent introduction of Moringa as a field crop for biomass production requires propagation through seed (Nouman et al., 2012). However, high germination percentages and rates, with relatively good uniformity, are important factors for successful seedling production. Seed germination is the growth of an embryonic plant contained within a seed resulting in the formation of seedling and germination is dependent on both internal and external factors. The most important external factors include: temperature, water, oxygen and