Effects of Temperature, Light and Seed Moisture Content on Germination of Euterpe precatoria Palm

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different temperatures, light regimes, and seed moisture contents on germination of the palm Euterpe precatoria, in the Arecaceae family. For the study of light and temperature, the experimental design was entirely randomized; treatments were arranged in a 6 × 2 factorial scheme [six temperature conditions (20°C, 25°C, 30°C, 35°C, 20°C - 30°C, and 25°C - 35°C) combined with two light regimes (light and darkness)] with four replications composed of 25 seeds each. For the seed moisture content study, the experimental design was entirely randomized with five seed moisture contents (27%, 20%, 13%, 12%, and 11%), to which they comprised 5 treatments, and four replications with 25 seeds each. Number of germinated seeds was recorded daily until germination was steady. Data were submitted to variance analysis; for the first experiment, means were compared by the Tukey test (p ≤ 0.05) and, for the second, the regression analysis was performed. The temperature at 20°C promoted highest germination percentage and germination rate for E. precatoria seeds, under either light or darkness; seeds were tolerant up to 11% moisture content.