Effect of pre-germination treatments on seed germination of Passiflora setacea DC (Passifloraceae)

Abstract


 setacea seeds without aril, were submitted to pre-germination treatments: T1(control); T2 (pre-soaking in Promalin® solution [gibberellin (GA4+7) + N-(phenylmethyl)-1H-purine 6-amine (6-benzyladenine) both at a concentration of 18.8 g.L-1] in bainMarie, 45 °C/20 min.; T3 (osmopriming with KNO3 at a concentration of 2.6g.L-1 H2O, 25 °C/1 day, with aeration); T4 (osmopriming with KNO3 at a concentration of 2.6g.L- 1 H2O, 25 °C/2 days, with aeration); T5 (T3 followed by T2) and T6 (T4 followed by T2). The initial moisture contents, ranging from 6.7% to 8% did not differ from each other (α 0.05). The highest fresh mass increment at 168h and the highest moisture content at the end of the germination test were achieved by T2, 40.9% and 44.3%, respectively. The lowest fresh mass increment at 168h was T1 (13.1%). Osmopriming with KNO3 and aeration contributed to better water absorption in T3 and T4 than in T1, but did not stimulate the germination performance of the seeds. The highest germination percentages and germination speed indexes were obtained from T2 seeds (92% and 8, 4595), T5 (96% and 11.7438) and T6 (94% and 11.6728) as well as the lowest mean germination times T2 (11.73 days), T5 (9.49 days) and T6 (8 .81 days), which did not differ statistically from each other (α 0.05). However, the germination process took less time for T2 seeds, 21 days. The combination of aryl removal and phytohormone solution in a bain-marie at 45 °C/20min. with or without osmopriming with KNO3 stimulated the germination process of P. setacea seeds.