Storage temperatures for Bowdichia virgilioides seeds: an endangered species

Bowdichia virgilioides Kunth is a tree species native to the Brazilian Cerrado that has been listed as an endangered species due to its overexploitation in the last decades. Given its slow and difficult propagation in natural environments, propagation in plant nurseries appears as an interesting strategy to preserve this endangered species. Therefore, in this study we employed a wide range of temperatures (i.e. from -25°C to -196°C) to store seeds of B. virgilioides in the short-term, and evaluated its efficiency by assessing seed germination rate, speed index, time and synchrony, as well as seedling growth and quality. Germination percentage was only slightly negatively affected by storage time (up to 32 weeks) at 25°C. Despite that, after 32 weeks of storage, all storage temperatures resulted in similar seed germination parameters and seedling growth and quality. Overall, our results highlight that the seeds of this species can be stored in the short-term at a wide range of temperatures, facilitating large-scale propagation in plant nurseries.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Esteves, Giovana, Chiari, Gabriel, Valenzuela, César Alfredo, Cardoso, Amanda A., Santos Filho, Plinio Rodrigues dos, Santos, Breno Régis
Format: Digital revista
Language:eng
Published: Coeditada entre Facultad de Agronomía - Udelar y el Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria (INIA) 2022
Online Access:https://agrocienciauruguay.uy/index.php/agrociencia/article/view/678
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Bowdichia virgilioides Kunth is a tree species native to the Brazilian Cerrado that has been listed as an endangered species due to its overexploitation in the last decades. Given its slow and difficult propagation in natural environments, propagation in plant nurseries appears as an interesting strategy to preserve this endangered species. Therefore, in this study we employed a wide range of temperatures (i.e. from -25°C to -196°C) to store seeds of B. virgilioides in the short-term, and evaluated its efficiency by assessing seed germination rate, speed index, time and synchrony, as well as seedling growth and quality. Germination percentage was only slightly negatively affected by storage time (up to 32 weeks) at 25°C. Despite that, after 32 weeks of storage, all storage temperatures resulted in similar seed germination parameters and seedling growth and quality. Overall, our results highlight that the seeds of this species can be stored in the short-term at a wide range of temperatures, facilitating large-scale propagation in plant nurseries.