EVALUATION OF THE GERMINATION OF GIANT STAGHORN PERN (Platycerium grande) SPORES AT DIFFERENT GROWING MEDIA

Giant staghorn fern is the only species of Platycerium that cannot be propagated through division unlike any species. It must be raise through spores alone. Since propagation of ferns through spores takes time, it is necessary to establish new study that will determined and shortened its germination period by the use of different growing media This study was conducted at Mindanao State University, General Santos City under 65 % shading condition in order to evaluate the germination of giant staghorn spores at different growing media such as coco coir dust, carbonized rice hull, cabo negro, wood chips and corn cob. Onc (1) gram of spores was diluted in 30 ml of distilled water and sown in every sterilized media on September 2, 2017. Moisture content was maintained to ensure germination. It was laid out randomly having five (5) observations in every treatment. The treatments were as follows: T1coco coir dust, 12 carbonized rice hull (CRH), T3-cabo negro/slab fern, T4-wood chips, T5-corn cob. Results revealed that sporcs of giant staghorn fern had germinated only inCabo negro (13) as growing media after 83 days from sowing. Spores sown in other media did not show positive response and 156 days after sowing, a sporophyte formation (plantlet) had been observed on the cabo negro medium. Therefore, in this study cabo negro (slab fern) is most appropriate media for the germination of giant staphorn spores.