Pre Germinating Treatments on Germination of Cocoa Seeds

Abstract

Knowing the ideal conditions for seed germination is an important factor so that we can guarantee a uniform production of quality seedlings with guarantee of establishment of the stand in the field of production. The objective was to evaluate different thermal, hormonal and nutritional treatments on the germination and vigor of cocoa seeds (Theobroma cacao L.). The experiment was conducted in the Seeds Laboratory of the IFES Campus - Santa Teresa and the treatments used were immersion for 30 minutes in water at temperatures of 0 ° C, 25 ° C, 50 ° C, 75 ° C, coconut water; solution of potassium chloride and gibberellin solution. Each treatment was composed of 4 replicates, with 25 seeds per replicate. The percentage of germination, germination speed index; mean germination time and seed vigor was evaluated by aerial part length and radicle, fresh matter and dry matter of the seedlings. The heat treatments that gave the best results of vigor in the cocoa seeds respectively were immersion in water at 50ºC and water at 25ºC. The treatment with immersion in gibberellin solution (2000 mg.L-1) 30 minutes, presented the best results, being recommended for cocoa bean.