Synergistic Effect of Seaweed (Phylum ocrophyta) and Water Lily (Nymphaeaceae alba) Extract as Catalysts for the Rapid Germination of Mangrove Seeds

Authors

  • Jones D. Impuesto
  • Ace Brylle I. Lina

Keywords:

Synergistic Effect, Seaweed, Water Lily, Rapid Germination, Mangrove Seeds

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

The mangrove forest is the home of a thousand species of marine organisms on earth. It provides a range of ecosystem services, including coastal protection, carbon sequestration, and marine diversity conservation. One of the undying problems worldwide is on the non-stop deforestation of mangrove forest. In the Philippines, the government implemented several projects on mangrove reforestation; however, mangrove seeds require a long period of germination. Since there were limited studies conducted on germinating mangroves using catalysts, this study was conducted to explore other mediums for the high rate of germination using locally available seaweeds and water lilies.

METHODS

An experimental research design was employed using a parallel-group design. A total of 18 samples of mangrove seeds were submerged to 50 percent concentration of seaweed and waterlily extract (experimental variable) while there were 18 samples treated under 100 percent concentration of brackish water (control variable). After one-month observation, data were collected using the ruler to measure the length of the longest roots sprouted from the mangrove among the experimental and control group. Afterward, the data was analyzed using mean values and a T-test.

RESULTS

Results revealed that the average difference between the initial and final roots of the control variable gained 24.77 mm while the experimental obtained 30.72 mm out of 18 mangrove seeds sprouted. The study also revealed that there is a significant difference between the initial and the final roots of the experimental and control group at 0.05 level of significance.

DISCUSSIONS

The overall results imply that the tandem of seaweed and waterlily extract has a vast potential to be a catalyst for the rapid germination of mangrove seeds, since, the average length difference (final-initial roots) of the experimental group is higher than the control one. The significant difference in the results confirmed that there is a vast difference in the experimental group compared to the control one in terms of their root length difference, which implies that the tandem of the seaweed and water lily extract rapidly germinate the mangrove seeds.

Published

2019-01-18