Effect of Pre-treatments on Seed Germination and Seedling Growth in Psidium guineense Swartz

This work aimed to evaluate the effect of pre-treatments with gibberellin, the initial substrate humidity, and incubation temperature on the germination of Psidium guineense Swartz seeds. The seeds were submitted to four pre-treatments with gibberellin (GA(3)) (50 and 100 mg L-1) and distilled water during 24 hours, and control. Sowing was carried out on Germitest (R) paper that was moistened with distilled water at humidity levels corresponding to 1.5 and 2.5 times the weight of dry paper. The seeds were then incubated at a constant temperature (25 or 30 degrees C) and alternate temperatures (20-30 degrees C). Experiments were randomized, with a factorial scheme 4x2x3 (pre-treatment x initial substrate humidity x temperature) with four replicates of 25 seeds each. Germination rate and seedling growth of P. guineense were not affected by pre-germination treatments. For an optimum germination rate and seedling growth, seeds of P. guineense should be sown at alternate temperatures of 20-30 degrees C or 25 degrees C and in substrate moisture of 1.5 or 2.5 times the dry paper mass.