Effect of Pre-treatments on Seed Germination and Seedling Growth in Psidium guineense Swartz

Abstract

This work aimed to evaluate the effect of pre-treatments with gibberellin, the initial substrate humidity, and incubation temperature on the germination of Psidium guineense Swartz seeds. The seeds were submitted to four pre-treatments with gibberellin (GA3 ) (50 and 100 mg L-1)and distilled water during 24 hours, and control. Sowing was carried out on Germitest® paper that was moistened with distilled water at humidity levels corresponding to 1.5 and 2.5 times the weight of dry paper. The seeds were then incubated at a constant temperature (25 or 30 °C) and alternate temperatures (20-30 °C). Experiments were randomized, with a factorial scheme 4 × 2 × 3 (pre-treatment × initial substrate humidity × temperature) with four replicates of 25 seeds each. Germination rate and seedling growth of P. guineense were not affected by pre-germination treatments. For an optimum germination rate and seedling growth, seeds of P. guineense should be sown at alternate temperatures of 20-30 °C or 25 °C and in substrate moisture of 1.5 or 2.5 times the dry paper mass.