Abstract
This work aimed to evaluate production of Moringa peregrina and M. oleifera, in the central region of Saudi Arabia. Seed germination using seven temperature regimes in laboratory showed that 20 degrees C is the optimum temperature for both species allowing the germination of 87-90% of cultivated seeds within 5 days, mainly from the fourth to seventh days of sowing. Satisfied germination (80%) was also obtained with 15 and 25 degrees C for M. oleifera and M. peregrina, respectively. No germination occurred under 10 and 40 degrees C for both species. The high temperature increased germination speed but deceased the germination percentage. The low temperature delayed the germination time. Under the optimum temperatures, both species had good germination time and rate but M. oleifera showed higher germination index. Under greenhouse, mid October was better than mid-February for seed germination and seedling growth of both species. Germination efficiency under greenhouse was different from that of laboratory where seed germination percentage of M. peregrina was higher than that of M. oleifera; 80% versus 53%, respectively. M. peregrina also showed better seedling growth specially in number of leaves. However, M. oleifera showed highly better growth under field conditions regarding height, spread, leaves number, leaf area and leaf dry weight. It also flowered 6 months after transfer to field or 8 months after sowing. The reported results could be beneficial for commercial production of such important crops in the central region of Saudi Arabia and similar regions. The reported results could be also important at fundamental level regarding the effects of temperature and growth trends. (C) 2017 Friends Science Publishers