Author(s): JOSE, S. C. B. R.; SALOMAO, A. N.; MELO, C. C. de; CORDEIRO, I. de M.; GIMENES, M. A.

Summary: The crops of passion fruit in Brazil are established predominantly by seedlings obtained from seeds that generally have low and irregular germination and dormancy, what are problems for passion fruit producers. The objective of this research was to study pre-germination treatments to potentiate the germination of wild passion fruit species seeds which could be used by the seed producers or farmers. Passiflora alata Curtis and Passiflora setacea D.C. fruits were harvested when they were visually ripe. After aryl removaled, the seeds remained in environmental laboratory for surface drying to water contents of 8.5% and 10%, respectively. The treatments performed on the seeds were: immersion in water at 45 °C for 20 minutes; immersion Promalin® growth regulator solution at 45 °C for 20 minutes and subsequent disinfection with Derosal® Plus fungicide; washing of seeds with detergent and subsequent disinfection with 2,5% sodium hypochlorite; Derosal® Plus fungicide disinfection; and control treatment. Vigor test by the first germination count and germination test were performed to evaluate the physiological quality of the seeds. Only untreated seeds presented contamination, visually verified in the germination test and for seeds of both species, no tegument dormancy was observed. Although the use of Promallin® promoted higher vigor of P. alata seeds, germination was higher than 92% for all the treatments used. Only the seeds of P. setacea treated with Promallin® germinated at the first count of the germination test, and at the final count, the values were less than 12%, compared to the 98% germination for seeds treated with the growth regulator. The use of Promalin® promoted better germination performance in both vigor and seed germination of P. setacea and the combination of gibberellins and cytokinin should be used when sowing freshly harvested seeds.

Publication year: 2019

Types of publication: Booklets

Unit: Embrapa Genetic Resources & Biotechnology

Keywords: Dormancy, Dormência, Passiflora alata, Passiflora setacea, Physiological quality, Qualidade fisiológica