ARMAZENAMENTO DE SEMENTES DE Eugenia jambolana Lam.

Abstract

The species Eugenia jambolana Lam., is one of several fruits of the family Myrtaceae that present recalcitrant seeds, that is, they are sensitive to the desiccation, and therefore, it presents limitations in relation to its storage. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the conditions and storage periods in the physiological quality of E. jambolana seeds. The storage conditions were vermiculite seeds without moist vermiculite, packed in transparent polyethylene bags and stored in a refrigerator (10 ± 3 °C) for up to 60 days. The determination of the water content of the seeds and the tests to evaluate their physiological quality (emergency percentage, first emergency count, emergency speed index, root and shoot length and dry mass of roots and shoots) were performed initially and every ten days (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 days). The experimental design was completely randomized, in a 2 x 7 factorial scheme (conditions and storage periods) with four replicates of 25 seeds per treatment. The data were submitted to analysis of variance and the means were compared by the Tukey test, at 5% probability. There was a significant interaction between conditions and storage periods for seed water content, emergence percentage, emergence speed index, length and dry mass of roots and shoots of E. jambolana seedlings. There was a reduction, during the storage periods, for all variables analyzed, it was verified that the highest averages of seed germination and seedling development were obtained from seeds stored in vermiculite. Seeds of E. jambolana can be stored for up to 60 days in unmoistened vermiculite, without prejudice to their viability.