Breaking the dormancy of Momordica balsamina L. seeds by resorting to pre-treatments

Abstract

The Cucurbitaceae family has some species with dormant seeds, including Momordica balsamina. Therefore, several methods have been used to overcome dormancy, as these help to accelerate the germination process. In this way, the objective was to evaluate seed germination at different temperatures after seed pre-treatments. The seed pre-treatments were: removal of the integument; wetting the substrate with 0.1% KNO3 solution; pre-cooling to 10 ºC for 3 days and control. Thereafter seeds germination temperatures were 25, 30 and 35 ºC in a BOD. Four replications of 25 seeds for each pre-treatment and temperature were used. After 21 days of the test assembly first germination count, germination, seedling emergence speed and seedling emergence were evaluated. The results showed physical seed dormancy. The removal of the tegument and the temperatures of 25 or 30 ºC, with 97 and 96% of germinated seeds respectively, provided ideal conditions for germination.