Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt) is a spice plant native Indonesia, an endemic plant of Maluku island. Nutmeg has a high economic value, so it is one of the commodities which contributing to the country's foreign exchange in the non-oil and gas sector. Good nutmeg seeds take 4-8 weeks to germinate. The time of nutmeg seed germination is one of the obstacles faced by farmers. The hardness of nutmeg shells makes it difficult for water and air to get into the embryo, resulting in stunted seed growth. This study aims to determine the effect of physical treatment techniques and germinating media on nutmeg seed germination. This study used a Complete Randomized Block Design (RCBD) with four replications, consisting of two factors. The first factor is physical treatment technique, and the second factor is the germinating media.
The results showed that physical treatment had a very significant effect on all observed variables, that is variable of growth velocity, germination strength, maximum growth potential, root length and shoot height. The media treatment only had significant effect in growth velocity and germination strength, as well as the interaction between physical treatment with the media only significantly affecting to the growth velocity and germination strength variables, but had no significant effect on the other observational variables.