It is generally believed that the seedling of palmyra palm (Borassus
flabellifer Linn.) is difficult to transplant and hence requires directsowing. This
hinders mass propagation and plantation of this species. Its propagation is
mostly through natural means, and hence palm trees are found to grow
scatteredly. At present, palmyra palmhasbeen recognized as a priority species
for raising plantations in the coastal embankment. This study has been undertaken to develop technique for raising palm seedlings. Investigations suggest
that the bed mixture comprising 50% soil, 25% sawdust, 20% cowdung and 5%
ash was the best, where tire average elongation of germtubes and coleorhiza/
root-sheath was 37.3 cm by 7 weeks, the mixture depth of 38.1 cm wassufficient
to accommodate theircumulative growth. These elongated germtubes could be
removed from the temporary bed after 7 weeks of sowing seeds, when the tip
of emergent coleoptile is visible on the surface of the bed. Rootlets were also
found to occur in the root-sheath of all tire germtubes by that time. These
germtubes were then detached from theirseeds and transplanted immediately
into suitable polybags of22.9 cm x 30.5 cmsize. All the transplantated seedlings
survived and the emerging leaflets of these seedlings turned to green within a
week after transplantion. The mortality of early and late trasplanted seedlings
was 11% and 25% respectively. Germtubes were found to elongate up to 82.6%
within 4 weeks after sowing seeds. On the other hand, more than 50% elongation of the coleoptile was observed during the 5-7th weeks after sowing