Germinação de Astrocasia jacobinensis (Müll.Arg.) G. L. Webster

Abstract

Due to the lack of work related to native forest seed technology, the present study aimed to characterize the fruits and seeds of Astrocasia jacobinensis (Müll.Arg.) G.L.Webster from different matrices, evaluate the germination of the seeds according to the color of the fruit and define a temperature suitable for conducting a germination tests. The fruits were harvested from four matrix trees in the Environmental Protection Area of “Lago de Pedra do Cavalo”, Bahia, Brazil, and were characterized as to the type, color, size, texture and consistency of the pericarp, weight of 100 fruits and number of seeds by fruit. The seeds were characterized by the weight of one thousand seeds, moisture content and dimensions. After the characterization, two experiments were developed. The first one evaluated the germination of the seeds according to the color of the brown and green fruits, with four replicates of 20 seeds each. In the second experiment, the seeds were submitted to germination at constant temperatures of 15, 25, 30 and 35 ° C and alternated between 25-30 and 15-30 ° C, under a photoperiod of eight hours daily of light, with a completely randomized experimental design, in four replicates of 25 seeds. The evaluations for both experiments were performed daily. It was verified that there is great variability regarding sanity and seed formation by fruit between the matrix trees, however there were no variations regarding the biometric characteristics of fruits and seeds. The green fruits have seeds with greater vigor and the temperature of 30 ° C is the most adequate for conducting the germination test in A. jacobinensis seeds, with counts on the fifth and seventeenth day after sowing.