Biometrics and seed germination of Passiflora species
Passiflora, seed biometry, germination
In the culture of passion fruit, seeds are considered the main form of propagation, the species of passion fruit besides having seeds with different biometric aspects, also have different dormancy mechanisms. For the following work seeds of the Passiflora eichleriana, Passiflora nitida and Passiflora mucronata species were used, submitted to biometric analysis where data were submitted to descriptive statistical analysis to determine the mean (M), median (MD), kurtosis (K), standard deviation (DV), coefficient of variation (CV), maximum (MAX) and minimum (MIN) and data amplitude (AMP), and after biometric analyzes were submitted to germination test after treatments to overcome dormancy, obtaining the germination percentage (%), average germination speed (VMG) and average germination time (TMG). With the biometric analysis of the data, we can conclude that the seeds of the analyzed species vary in height, length and thickness, not only within the species, but when compared with other species of the same genus. In overcoming dormancy, it was observed that for the P. crisp species the highest percentage of germination was observed in the treatments with GA3 dosages: 2000 mg L-1, 3000 mg L-1, 4000 mg L-1 during 6 hours of soaking and 4000 mg L-1 during 12 hours of soaking, and also in treatments with dosages of 4500 mg L-1 and 9000 mg L-1 of Promalin® during 12 hours of soaking. For P. eichleriana, the seeds showed higher germination percentages in the soaking treatments in 9000 mg L-1 solution of Promalin® during 6 hours of soaking and 4500 mg L-1 and 9000 mg L-1 of Promalin® during 12 hours of soaking. For the species P. mucronata it is observed that the treatments 4500 mg L-1 and 9000 mg L-1 of Promalin® during 12 hours of imbibition and 2000 mg L-1, 3000 mg L-1, 4000 mg L-1 during 6 hours of soaking and 4000 mg L-1 for 12 hours of soaking show better germination percentages.