THE Germinative potential of Bursera glabrifolia seeds Kunth Engl. in southern Mexico .

Abstract

Bursera glabrifolia is a species native to the low deciduous forest and has low germination rates making it difficult for the species to propagate. The objective was to evaluate the germination potential of seeds from select Bursera glabrifolia trees with different pregerminative treatments. The seeds were collected in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico. An average of 75 seeds per parent were morphologically described, in 2014, it were subjected to pregerminative treatments for 24 h: 1) immersion in 15 ml of 99.5% acetone; 2) immersion in 15 ml of Coca Cola® classic soft drink; 3) immersion in Bassariscus sumichrasti excrement. Four to 10 seeds per Petri dish were placed in an incubation chamber at a constant temperature of 25°C. A completely randomized experimental design with a factorial arrangement (9×3, parents-TP) was used to evaluate germination. Analysis of variance, tests of means (Tukey, 0.05) and hierarchical tree classification (cluster analysis) were performed. The vigor indicators showed differences (P ≤ 0.0001) between trees, TP and interaction. Seeds collected from three trees showed better results in germination percentage, germination energy, germination speed and germination speed index. The lowest and highest germination was acetone (8.9 % at 34 days) and Coca Cola® (48.9% at 23 days). To achieve a higher germination percentage in the species, seeds were immersed in Coca Cola® for 24 h, after sanding before sowing.