GERMINATION OF PASPALUM NOTATUM CV. BOYERO UNNE SEEDS AT DIFFERENT MATURATION STAGES

MARTÍN B; ORTIZ JPA; ANIBALINI V

Pergamino

Congreso; 9 TH INTERNATIONAL HERBAGE SEED CONFERENCE; 2017

INTA y Ministerio de Agroindustria

The objective of this work was to evaluate the germination of seeds from Cultivar Boyero UNNE at different post-harvest periods and maturity stages, with and without acid scarification. At harvest, three maturity stages were defined according to the seed-coat color: G (green= immature with milky endosperm), B (pale brown = mature with hard endosperm) and D (dark brown = mature with endosperm desiccated).Germination assays were carried out after 3, 6 and 12 months after harvest. Scarification was performed using 98% HS04 for10 min and three rising with sterile distilled water. Three replications of 30 seeds were set up for each treatment on Petri dishes (150 x 15 mm) according to the ISTA recommendations. Seeds were incubated at 30°/20°C (day/night) with 14 hours of photoperiod for 30 days. Germination percentages were transformed by using the arcsinfunction and analyzed with ANOVA. The Tukey?s test (p˂0.05) was used for estimatingthe significance of the differences between means. Results showed that the highest percentages of germination were obtained with seeds 12 months after harvest in the maturity stage B. In this case, a maximum of 70% ±6.24 and 48.9%± 1.53 of germination were obtained, with and without scarification, respectively. Seeds assayed six months after harvest showed the lowest germination ranging from 0.00 ? 4.4% ± 0-1,53and seeds germinated after three months of harvest showed germination ranging from 0.00 ? 14.44% ± 0-9 considering all maturity stages and the scarification treatment. Comparison of the average germination percentages of seeds assayed after 12 months of harvest showed significant differences between maturity stages (G vs B and D)(p < 0.0004) and scarification treatment (p < 0.0004). Seeds analyzed after 6 months of harvest showed no differences, among neither maturity stages nor the scarification treatments. Seeds germinated at 3 months post-harvest showed no-significant differences between maturity stages, but showed differences between scarified and no-scarified at the maturity stage B (p < 0.0291). Results presented in this work indicate that dormancy diminished with the time after harvest and seeds at maturation stage B have the maximal potential for germination.