Substrate and Reposition of Water in The Germination of Copernicia Prunifera (Mill) H. E. Moore (Arecaceae) Seeds

Marina Romano NOGUEIRA, Marcos Vieira FERRAZ, Ana Carolina Correa MUNIZ, Kathia Fernandes Lopes PIVETTA, Petterson Baptista da LUZ, Roberto Jun TAKANE, Ingrid Bernardo de Lima COUTINHO

Carnauba, Copernicia prunifera (Mill) H. E. Moore, is a palm tree native from Brazil with high ornamental value and it is widely used in landscaping in the northeast of the country. Besides being ornamental it also provides many products such as the wax removed from their leaves. Despite its economic and ecological importance, carnauba is still little studied. To elucidate aspects related to seedling production, this work aimed to study the effect of substrates and water reposition in the germination of seeds. The experiment was conducted at the Seed Laboratory of the Department of Plant Production in UNESP/FCAV, Jaboticabal, SP. The experimental design was completely randomized. The treatments were arranged in a factorial 3 x 3 + 1,for example three substrates (vermiculite, sphagnum and coconut fiber) combined with three water reposition regimes(60%, 80% and 100%) + sand with 60% of reposition (control); it were used 4 replicates with 25 seeds each. In every two days it was performed the count of the number of germinated seeds (determined by the appearing of the germination button) and it was made the reposition of water. After the stabilization of the germination it were calculated the germination percentage and the germination speed index (GSI). Data were statistically analyzed and the means were compared by the Tukey test at 5%. Higher germination percentages were observed in vermiculite and in coconut fiber being the fastest germination found in the coconut fiber, regardless of the reposition of water. The percentage of germination and the GSI were not affected by the water repositions regimes, regardless of the substrate.