Restrição hídrica em sementes de jenipapo (Genipa americana L.)

Abstract

The jenipapo is a native species from Latin America, belonging to the Rubiaceae family and presents great timber value and alimentary, being exploited without conservation strategies. This study aimed to evaluate the water restriction effect, using two methodologies for the Genipa americana L. seeds germination. The first methodology was performed with immersed seeds in polyethylene glycol solutions (PEG 6000) for 18 days at 0.0, -0.1, -0.3, and -0.4 MPa at 20° C, simulating the flooding conditions. After this period, the seeds were disposed to germinate in Petri dishes with germitest paper, blotter paper type, moistened with water. The second methodology used the same osmotic potential, damping the blotter paper type to simulate the fluid restriction. A completely randomized design was used with four replications of 25 seeds. For the immersed seeds in PEG solutions, the potential -0.3 MPa allowed the osmotic conditioning, while the -0.4 MPa interfered in vigor. In imbibed seeds in paper there was a germination reduction, because the time, until potential events were not observed from -0.3 MPa.