The effect of parental plant and washing materials on seed germination of F2 generation apple cactus (Cereus spp.)

Abstract

Apple cactus (Cereus sp.) is a genus of cactus, and two species that are often crossed are long spines (Cereus jamacaru) and short spines (Cereus peruvianus). Those species have seeds with physical dormancy, that is, seed mucilage that can inhibit the germination process. This research aims to study the effect of parental plants and washing materials on the germination of F2 apple cactus seeds. This study used two-factor RCBD using 3 parental plants of the F2 generation of apple cactus (C. jamacaru open pollination, C. peruvianus × C. jamacaru, C. jamacaru × C. peruvianus) and 5 washing materials (without washing, pH 8, distilled water (pH 7), pH 5, and pH 9) which was carried out in 3 repetitions. The results showed that seeds of the cross C. jamacaru as female parent (C. jamacaru open pollination and C. jamacaru × C. peruvianus) produced better germination than seeds from the cross of C. peruvianus as female parent (C. peruvianus × C. jamacaru). Although the washing material didn’t significantly affect the germination of F2 apple cactus seeds, there was an influence of using pH 9 to minimize seed mucilage so that the extraction process was easier.