Studies were made to assess the physiological maturity for harvesting the seed
of Prosopis juliflora with high germination and vigour. Sufficient number of
flowers were tagged at the time of anthesis. The developing pods were collected
at weekly intervals, and pod and seed development were studied at each
collection. Pod and seed weight increased with the increase of age and reached the
maximum at 91 days after anthesis (DAA). In this stage pod colour turned from
green to straw yellow. The seed extracted at this stage resulted in maximum seed
weight, germination and vigour potential. Since the germination potential and
vigour of this species started declining after this stage (91 DAA), the physiological
maturity stage for honey mesquite (P. juliflora ) could be fixed at about 91 days
after anthesis.