Fruit processing and the physiological quality of Euterpe edulis Martius seeds

Abstract

-Different pulping methods were analyzed for Euterpe edulis, with regard to its seed physiological quality, and the physiological performance of seeds submitted to continuous drying and monitored by radiographs was assessed. In order to do so, 2x2 factorial design treatments were carried out, using two different manners to store fruit prior to pulping, immersed in water and not. Also, two different methods for the pulping of fruit were used for each lot; namely, manual and mechanical. Seeds from fruit that had been immersed in water at 40 °C for 20 minutes showed greater physiological performance than those that had not been immersed in water previously. Immersion in water at 55 °C resulted in seed death. The pulp extraction method, whether manual or mechanical, did not affect seed physiological performance. Radiographs made it possible to observe that the volume occupied by embryos in the embryo cavity reduced with decreased water content. Mechanical pulping showed no reduction in percentage of seedling emergence for water content up to 33.3%. However, reduction in water content to 16.1% caused seed death. The drying of manually pulped seeds until reaching 39.0% water content did not adversely affect seedling emergence, whereas lower water contents than 25.6% caused seed death.Index terms: juçara palm, tolerance to drying, pulped fruit, X -ray. Métodos de despolpa e qualidade fisiológica de sementes de Euterpe edulis Martius RESUMO -Foram estudados os efeitos de diferentes métodos de despolpa de frutos deEuterpe edulis sobre a qualidade fisiológica das sementes, e avaliado o desempenho fisiológico de sementes submetidas à secagem contínua assistida por tomada de imagens radiográficas. Para tanto, foram realizados tratamentos em arranjo fatorial 2x2, sendo duas formas de pré-condicionamento dos frutos, com e sem imersão em água, e dois métodos de despolpa, manual e mecânico, para cada lote. As sementes obtidas a partir de frutos imersos em água a 40 °C por 20 minutos apresentaram desempenho fisiológico superior. A temperatura da água a 55 °C para a imersão dos frutos foi prejudicial e ocasionou a morte das sementes. A forma de extração da polpa, não influenciou o desempenho fisiológico das sementes. As imagens de raios X possibilitaram observar a redução do volume ocupado na cavidade embrionária pelo embrião com a redução do teor de água. Para despolpa mecânica, não há redução na percentagem de emergência de plântulas para teor de água de até 33,3% e para 16,1% de água a desidratação é letal. A secagem das sementes, despolpadas manualmente, até 39,0% de água não prejudica a emergência de plântulas e a 25,6% é letal.Termos para indexação: palmiteiro juçara, tolerância à secagem, despolpa, raios -X.

Assessment of different seedling production techniques ofEuterpe edulis

“…with the general characteristics of the seed species, seed lot quality, and environmental conditions [5], [31]. The unbridled harvesting of adult individuals that led E. edulis natural population decline, related to the reproduction between related individuals, could have led some populations to less vigorous offspring, a process called endogamy depression [12], which directly affects seed quality [2], [14].…”

“…These are recalcitrant; thus, they are not resistant to dry and/or temperature reduction. These features contribute to its longterm life cycle [5], [6]. Seedling growth seems to be limited by light exposure in natural conditions [7].…”

“…E. edulis is also a key species in ecologic studies of the Atlantic rainforest [9]. Other authors have demonstrated that programs seeking in situ recovery must focus on seed banks' maintenance and replanting techniques to effective forestry management [2], [5]. Thus, scientific research development in seedling production and ecophysiology is essential to guide recovery programs and/or commercial production [4], [5], [7], [10].…”

“…The mechanical structure of this species seeds seems to hinder water penetration, generating great variations between seed germination rate [6]. One possible method to overcome this is by using hot water [18], [19], which also makes the removal of fruit pulp easier [5]. However, this method could reduce seed viability and reduce germination.…”

<b>Radiographic image analysis of <i>Anacardium othonianum</i> Rizz (anacardiaceae) achenes subjected to desiccation

“…With X-ray images it was observed that a reduction in the volume occupied in the embryonic cavity by the embryo occurs with a reduction in the water content in seeds of Euterpe edulis Martius (Cursi & Cicero, 2014). In addition, the radiographic image analysis was efficient in identifying cracks in rice seeds (cultivars IRGA 417 and IRGA 420) subjected to artificial desiccation, and it was possible to correlate the cracks with the occurrence of normal and abnormal seedlings in germination tests (Menezes, Cicero, Villela, & Bortolotto, 2012 In general, regardless of the analyzed water content, more than 93% of the achenes were classified as filled and exhibited no damage, resulting in a mean of 96% normal seedlings at the end of the emergence test ( Figure 5).…”