<b>Effect of storage temperature and phytoregulators on germination of sweet passion fruit seeds and seedling development</b> - DOI: 10.4025/actasciagron.v28i3.972

Abstract

The germination of sweet passion fruit seeds has problems. Studies that explain and verify its viability are important for seed producers to improve their income and profit. The aim of this work was to verify the effect of storage temperature and imbibition in phytoregulators and KNO2 on germination and seedling development of passion fruit. The experiment was carried out at Casa de Vegetação from Faculdade de Engenharia de Ilha Solteira/Unesp, São Paulo State, using a completely randomized design in a 2 (storage temperature of seeds (room temperature and refrigerator)) x 5 (imbibition treatments (without imbibition, distilled water, gibberelin 250 ppm, cytokinin 250 ppm and KNO3 0.1%)) factorial scheme, with four repetitions. The seeds were stored for 20 days, following imbibition for 24 hours. Evaluations were done until 62 days after sowing. Germination percentage, germination speed and seeds initial development were evaluated. The low temperature had positive effect on germination. The gibberelin positively affected the seeds initial development. The gibberelin effect can be perfectly replaced by low temperature of seed storage.