The practical utility of seed pre-treatment is well documented. Seed pre-treatment has been utilized to improve the germination of different crop species. In the present study, the effect of pre-treatment of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) seeds, which is one of the important vegetable crops with hydrochloric acid (HCl) was analysed. Tomato seeds were soaked in distilled water and two concentrations of HCl (0.03 N and 0.3 N) for three different time periods i.e., 2 hours, 4 hours and 6 hours. After the pre-treatment, seeds were sterilized using 5% of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) for 5 minutes. Treated seeds were placed on the sterilized petri dishes lined with moistened Whatmann 1 covered with lid. Germinated seeds were counted every 24 h for 10 days. Data was used to calculate percentage germination, mean time of germination and the rate of germination. Results indicated that percentage germination was improved significantly when tomato seeds were soaked in 0.03 N concentration for 2, 4 and 6 hours. Rate of germination improved with 0.03 N treatment of HCl for a duration of 6 hours. Therefore, an optimum concentration of HCl for a particular amount of time may have stimulatory effect on the germination of tomato seeds and can improve the yield.

Keywords : Tomato, Seed Germination, Pretreatment, HCL