Resumo

BASANEZ-MUNOZ, Agustín de Jesús et al. Seed germnination of Conocarpus erectus var. sericeus E. Forst. ex DC under laboratory conditions. Polibotánica [online]. 2011, n.31, pp.61-70. ISSN 1405-2768.

The biology and ecology of Conocarpus erectus var. sericeus are poorly known, leading to its undervaluation as a member of the mangrove ecosystem. It was important to investigate seed germination in order to advance knowledge of this species. This study was carried out in two phases. The field phase consisted of identifying trees with seeds and collecting infructescences. The laboratory phase was directed at cleaning and assaying the seeds to get sample weight, purity, and germination results with different treatments. The germination test lasted five weeks and used 2 500 pure seeds that were divided into groups of 500 seeds for each of the five treatments utilized. After setting aside the control group, tests were performed using physical and chemical abrasion with HCl on two replicates to break exogenous latency, and imposing H₂O₂ and refrigeration on the other two replicates to break endogenous latency. The experimental design was applied in randomized complete blocks, because the source of variation for the number of seeds germinated per week was considered important for the practical goals of the study. Repeated Measures ANOVA was used, because variation in seed number was considered important. The sample weighed 23.22 g and was 78% pure. The ANDEVA test established that there was no significant difference between the treatments, but that there was a significant difference among the number of germinated seeds per week, the second week being the different one. Also, the time X treatment interaction effect with H₂O₂ was significant in week one, as was the refrigeration effect in week two.

Palavras-chave : mangrove buttonwood; germination; treatments.