Background:

Pouteria campechiana, a fruit tree native to Mexico, is a species important for its nutritional, medicinal and timber attributes, which requires plant production and propagation techniques. In this study germination and seedling development were evaluated in response to the combination of scarification, sowing position and substrate.

Questions:

Do scarification and planting position influence the percentage and speed of germination? Does the transplanting to different substrates have an effect on the seedling development?

Species studied:

Pouteria campechiana (Kunt) Baehni (Sapotaceae)

Study site and dates:

Yautepec, Morelos, México. From March to June 2018.

Methods:

The fruits and seeds were characterized; the germination treatments were manual scarification and two sowing positions (scarified-horizontal, scarified-vertical, not scarified-horizontal, not scarified-vertical), agrolite and a mixed substrate were used, the experimental design was random blocks and the variance statistical analysis applied.

Results:

The seeds had similar size without depending on the size of the fruit. The germination percentage was high (90 % in scarified-vertical and 100 % in not scarified-horizontal). The germination speed in scarified and sown horizontally was 2 seeds/day. Seedlings sown horizontally presented greater plant size and a higher number of leaves when transplanted to the agrolite substrate.

Conclusions:

The seeds from fruits of different sizes had a similar size, the scarification and sowing position did not influence the percentage but affected the speed of germination; scarification and the agrolite substrate favored the development of the seedlings after transplantation.