Pod development and seeds maturation of Piptadenia viridiflora related to germination and dormancy

Abstract

The objective of this work was to characterize and verify the effect of different phases of fruit ripening and its relationship with germination and dormancy resulted from tegument impermeability of Surucucu seeds (Piptadenia viridiflora). Eight fruit collections were accomplished at Vitória da Conquista - Bahia, in the period from May to July of 2007, in intervals of seven days. Each harvest period was characterized by evaluations of water content, dimensions of the seeds and Spad index of pod and seeds. After a period of 59 days of seed collection seeds were submitted to germination test. The trial was defined by a completely randomized design with an experimental grid of 50 seeds. The greening intensity of pod and seeds, seed dimensions and seed number per pod were reduced as maturity age increasing. The germination raise associated to the periods after full fructification was indirectly related to dormancy and water content of seeds.