Background:

The low availability, low percentage of germination, pests, and juvenile period higher than 25 years, are the problems to propagate C. pentadactylon by seed.

Hypothesis:

There is morphophysiological variation of the seeds between trees and the pregerminative treatments increase the percentage and speed of germination in seeds with six months of storage at room temperature.

Species studied:

Chiranthodendron pentadactylon Larreat.

Study site and year of study:

Postgrado en Ciencias Forestales, Campus Montecillo, Colegio de Postgraduados, Texcoco, Estado de Mexico, Mex. June, 2016

Methods:

The moisture content, the viability and the effect of pregerminative treatments on the percentage and speed of germination of the seeds were determined. A randomized block design was used. The random blocks included the treatments: 1 (mechanical scarification + cold stratification at 5 °C for 5 days), 2 (mechanical scarification + imbibition for 12 h), 3 (mechanical scarification + cut at the base of the seed) and 4 (control). The treatments were randomized within each block.

Results:

The moisture content was less than 10 % and the viability was 100 %. Significant differences between treatments were found for germination percent. The Tukey test (α = 0.05) showed differences between pregerminative treatments 1, 2 and 3 with respect to T4. Germination speed recorded the highest value in treatment 3.

Conclusions:

With treatments 1, 2 or 3 more than 77 % of germination was obtained. Treatment 3 showed the highest germination speed, which is important for seedling production.