Testes rápidos de vigor para determinar a qualidade fisiológica de sementes de Caesalpinia ferrea Mart. Ex Tul

Abstract

The Caesalpinia ferrea is a native of Brazil that despite having great economic importance, medicinal, landscaping and restoration of degraded areas, currently is endangered. The demand for high quality seeds is increasing continuously and seed technology has been seeking to improve the existing tests to ensure the achievement of results that are consistent and that express the real physiological quality of a seed lot. Among the vigor tests, stand the test of electrical conductivity, potassium leaching test and exudate pH test - phenolphthalein. The experiments were carried out at the Seed Analysis Laboratory at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco / Academic Unit of Garanhuns (UFRPE / UAG) in order to verify the efficiency of rapid vigour test to evaluate the physiological potential of two batches of C. ferrea seeds. The fruits were harvested in the states of Paraíba (lot 1) and Pernambuco (lot 2) and after harvest benefited for extracting the seeds, which were chemically scarified with sulfuric acid and determined: water content, weight of thousand seeds, germination test, first count test; germination speed index; shoot length and root seedlings; shoot dry mass, root and cotyledons of seedlings, electrical conductivity, potassium leaching test and exudate pH test - phenolphthalein by individual method. The electrical conductivity were tested volumes of water (50, 75, and 100 mL) quantities of seeds (25, 50 and 100) and soaking periods (2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 24 hours) at constant temperature 30°C. Potassium leaching test was carried out with a water volume (50, 75, and 100 mL) and seed numbers (25, 50, and 100 seeds) for 24 hours at 30°C. In the pH test exudate - phenolphthalein, seeds were imbibed for 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 minutes for the temperatures of 25 and 30°C. Rapid electrical conductivity, potassium leaching and pH of exudate - phenolphthalein show promise and effective in determining the physiological potential of the seeds of C. ferrea.