SEED TREATMENTS TO IMPROVE THE GERMINATION of Colubrina ferruginosa Brong

Abstract

The achievement of the repopulation in projects for the rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems depends on the handling of seeds of forest species. Colubrina ferruginosa Brong seeds have a low germination capacity (40-60 %) making it difficult to obtain seedlings for planting. An experiment was conducted with the aim of improving the germination capacity of C. ferruginosa. The experiment was carried out during 60 days, using seeds harvested in February 2002, 400 per treatment. 10 treatments with 4 replications were evaluated using a completely randomized design, of which 9 treatments consisted of immersing seeds in water and the other treatment consisted of immersing seeds in boiling water for 30 s. Seeds were placed in germinating boxes with a growth medium made of 30 % sand and 70 % pine sawdust, and covered with the same sawdust; seeds were moistened daily with 733 mL of water. Germination values were transformed using the arc sine function √/x100 and were evaluated by means of a simple ANOVA. It was found that germination was significantly increased compared to the control treatment (50 %), with immersions of 3, 6 and 9 h (76-80 %).