Temperature and pre-germinative treatments for overcoming Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd. (Fabaceae) seeds dormancy

Abstract

Acacia farnesiana L. is a species known for its uses in recovery of degraded pastures, animal feeding, medical and fungicide properties. However, it is one of the most problematic invasive species in agriculture, due to the little known dormancy aspects of its seeds that results in the propagation and dispersion to distinct areas and the establishment of the invasive plant. The knowledge on ecophysiological characteristics of invasive species seeds aiming at the dormancy process is important for the comprehension of aggressive regeneration unities, and allows the development of strategies against infestation of new areas and reduction of soil seed banks. The objective of this research was to assess how A. farnesiana seeds overcome dormancy using different temperatures and pre-germinative treatments. The study was conducted in Federal University of Paraiba, using seeds obtained from fruits of ten matrix trees in Paraiba State, Brazil. The completely randomized design was adopted, with treatments arranged in a 3 x 15 factorial scheme representing temperatures and pre-germinative treatments with four replicates. Parameters related to germination percentage, germination and emergency index were assessed, with best results observed in seeds scarified with sandpaper 80 followed by imbibitions of water at environmental temperature (25-30°C) for 24 h.