Emergence Rate and Initial Growth of Longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour) in Relation to Seeds Sizes

Ranieri Reis Laredo,Alexandre Dias Da Silva,Fábio Oseias Dos Reis Silva,Nathalia Vallery Tostes,José Darlan Ramos,Verônica Andrade Dos Santos

doi:10.5539/jas.v11n5p454

Abstract

The fruit plant &lsquo;Longan&rsquo; is considered as being native to Asia and is at present commercially explored in some regions. The objective of this work was to study the influence of seed size on seed emergence and initial seedling growth. The experiment was carried out using a randomized block design (DBC), with three treatments, namely, the seed sizes at seedling emergence according to their longitudinal diameter: small, medium and large. Each plot was composed of six seeds and five replications per treatment. The following characteristics were evaluated: emergence speed index, average time, percentage and relative frequency of emergence, leaf number, stem diameter, plant height, shoot dry mass and root dry mass. Seeds of medium and large size are those that presented satisfactory results for the characteristics related to seed emergence. The same ones stood out in relation to the small seeds for the variables percentage, average time, average speed and emergence speed index. Small seeds are not recommended for the production of &lsquo;Longan&rsquo; seedlings, given the long period of time to emerge and the low probability of the seedlings establishing satisfactorily in the field. The medium and large seeds were the most promising for the variables number of leaves, stem diameter, plant height, dry shoot mass and dry root mass.Therefore, according to the conditions in which the present work was conducted, the use of medium and large seeds for the production of &lsquo;Longan&rsquo; seedlings is suggested.

Highlights

The great fruit biodiversity that Brazil presents and their benefits cause to be necessary greater valuing of the fruits still little explored by research
‘Longan’, ‘Longana’ or ‘Dragon’s Eye’ (Dimocarpus longan Lour) is considered a fruit tree of the family Sapindaceae, native to Southern China to Thailand (Lorenzi et al, 2015) since it is promising, it can be an alternative of diversification for the small farmers little known, ‘Longan’ is distributed in great part of the subtropical regions
In view of the exposed, the objective of this work was to study the influence of seed size on seed emergence and initial seedling growth

Summary

Introduction

The great fruit biodiversity that Brazil presents and their benefits cause to be necessary greater valuing of the fruits still little explored by research. It had similar characteristics to those of the Litchi (Colombo, Assis, Favetta, Yamamoto, & Roberto, 2018), differ, when ripe, by the brownish color and by the less pronounced flavor. It is run commercially in Thailand, China, Taiwan and in Vietnam. The ‘Longan’ plants have been propagated by seeds, cuttings and air layering, the last propagation method being used most frequently. This method of plant multiplication brings results that in many cases are not feasible due to several factors such as wear of the mother plant and it is part of a very time-consuming system, with low yield, resulting in seedlings with high prices

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Conclusion