STORAGE OF Erythrina velutina WILLD. SEEDS

The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of different packages and storage environments in maintainace of physiological quality of Erythrina velutina Willd seeds. The experiment was carried out in the Laboratory of Seed Analysis of Seeds in Department of Phytotecny in the Center of Agriculture Sciences at Federal University of Paraiba (CCA-UFPB), located in Areia, northeastern Brazil. The seeds of Erythrina velutina were collected under the matrix trees in the same city and taken to the laboratory, where it was carried out homogenization and packing in paper, cloth and glass packages and, posterior storage in non-controlled laboratory conditions (+/- 25 degrees C), refrigerator (6 +/- 2 degrees C) and cold chamber (4 +/- 2 degrees C), for a period of 225 days. Before and after the 45-day intervals, samples were removed from each package and storage environment for evaluation of the following characteristics: water content, emergency test (percentage and speed rate); length and dry mass of epicotyle, hipocotyle and root of normal seedlings. The experimental design used was completely randomized with four replicates of 25 seeds for each test. E. velutina seeds are orthodox and by packing them in paper, cloth or glass packages, they can be stored in environments of laboratory, refrigerator and cold chamber for 225 days without significant loss in seedling emergency.