Maturation of Erythrina speciosa Andrews seeds collected in the Southeast and South Regions of Brazil

Abstract

Analyzing unripe phases of orthodox seeds and the variations in traits depending on environmental conditions under which they were formed is a way of gaining knowledge on the differences and similarities between orthodox and recalcitrant seed behavior. From this perspective, in this study fruits of Erythrina speciosa Andrews were collected in Florianópolis (SC), Lajeado (RS) and Sao Paulo (SP) in August and November. Seeds were extracted and classified into six different maturation stages. Seeds were stored at 7 °C for a maximum of five days until the beginning of the experiments. Moisture content and dry matter content were measured through the oven method (103 ± 3 °C). Germination was analyzed at 25 °C and 70% of relative humidity, with evaluations being made every two days for 30 days. To induce dormancy, seeds were dried to 10% moisture content. We ran an analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey’s test at 5% as statistical analysis. We observed that unripe seeds showed a wide behavior variation depending on the collection period and site, for a same chronological age, reinforcing the idea that the seed behavior variation may be due to the maturation degree at the moment of seed dispersal.