Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(12): 135-140 135 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.612.018 Effect of Seed Treatment on Germination in Sarpagandha (Rauvolfia serpentina Benth) Rahul S. Phatak * , N.K. Hegde, P.M. Gangadharappa and Laxminarayan Hegde KRC College of Horticulture, Arabhavi – 591 218, Karnataka, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Sarpagandha (Rauvolfia serpentina Benth.) is an indigenous medicinal herb of Indian continent, mentioned in ancient Indian medicinal literature, 3000 years back. Sarpagandha is having different vernacular names viz., Sarpagandha in Sanskrit, Chandrabhaga, Chandrika and Chota-Chand in Hindi, Shivanabhi balli, Sarpagandhi, Garuda paatala and Paatala gandhi in Kannada and Serpentine root, Serpentine wood and Indian snake root in English (Anon., 1956). It is used in Ayurveda, Unani, Homeopathy and Sidha systems of medicines for the treatment of high blood pressure, insomnia, cardiac diseases and a number of mental problems such as psychic disorders, mental retardation, epilepsy, agitation and neurotic disorders, asthma, hypochondriasis, certain forms of insanity, acute stomachache and painful delivery. Juice of leaves is used as a remedy for removal of opacities of cornea. Apart from traditional use, it has been increasingly used in pharmaceutical industries. About 30 alkaloids are known to exist in this plant. The important alkaloids are reserpine, serpentine, ajmaline, ajmalicin, rauvolfinine, recinamine and deserpidine. Rauvolfia serpentina continues to be an important component of traditional medicine within India, as well as the starting material for production of reserpine, with increasing demand. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 12 (2017) pp. 135-140 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com An experiment was carried out to know the effect of different seed treatments on seed germination in sarpagandha. The experiment was laid out in completely randomized design with seven treatments, replicated thrice. Among the different seed treatments tested, GA 3 (1000 mg L -1 ) treatment was found to be the best, recording earliness in first and complete germination, highest values for speed of germination (1.37) and germination percentage (50 %). The GA 3 treatment resulted in 46.94 per cent reduction in number of days to complete germination, 633.93 per cent increased speed of germination and 354.55 per cent increased germination percentage over the control. Keywords Seed treatment, Germination, Experiment. Accepted: 04 October 2017 Available Online: 10 December 2017 Article Info