EFECTO DE TRATAMIENTOS EN LA GERMINACIÓN DE SEMILLAS DE PALMA CAMEDOR (Chamaedorea elegans MART.)

Abstract

The Parlour Palm ( Chamaedorea elegans Mart.) is a decorative plant with a great ·economical value, however it has sorne problems for its propagation. The lasting tirne from three to six months for seed germination and its irregularity, are the main reasons because there are a few people who are dedicated to its propagation in nursery. In this study, four treatments were applied, in order to promete germination in seeds of this species, comparing against a control condition. The evaluated treatments were: 1) immersion of seeds into oxygenated water (hydrogen peroxide) at 5% concentration for 15 minutes, and after that, seeds were washed with tap water; 2) immersion of seeds into giberelic acid at 100 ppm for 24 hours and washed with tap water at the end; 3) immersion of seeds in tap water for 24 hours at 35ºC; 4) mechanical scarification, which was done through the elimination of the seed cover with a knife; and 5) control (no treatment). The experiment was established in a totally random design with five replications by treatment. The viability of seeds was tested by a physical analysis and the result was 95.5% and seed purity was 99.8%. Satistical differences were registered among the treatments applied to the seeds, and the best pregerminative treatment was mechanical scarification, with a germination rate of 80.22% in 84 days.