Investigations on Seedling Vigour in Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.)

Seedlings from 27 open pollinated cas-hew genotypes in two environments with five replications in each location were used to investigate the genetic, the environmental, and the nut size effects on cashew seedling vigour during the 12-week pretransplantation period. Enviromental variances, genotype × environment interactions, and broadsense heritability values for the eight studied traits indicated that emergence percentage (L %) and seedling height (SH) were more reliable indices for seedling vigour, since they were more heritable and less influenced by the environment. Seedlings from large cashew nuts were consistently more vigorous than those from small nuts, probably because of the larger food reserve in the two cotyledons.