Ambientes, embalagens e épocas de armazenamento na qualidade fisiológica de sementes de Piper marginatum e Piper tuberculatum

Abstract

This study focuses on the physiological quality of seeds of Piper marginatum and Piper tuberculatum, belonging to the Piperaceae family, which is recognized as aromatic and the genus Piper the most representative of that family. They have shrubs features with pioneer species, which produce essential oil, with promising use in agriculture and medicine, because of its insecticide potential and fungicide, its compounds are used in cosmetics, perfumery and pest control and relevant diseases for the agricultural sector. Thus aimed to evaluate the behavior of seed quality during storage process of Piper tuberculatum and Piper marginatum species considering: the influence of different environments; the type of packaging used for storing seeds; as well as the function of the period for storage. The seeds were from the Embrapa Amazonia Ocidental, we used a completely randomized design with four replications, in a split plot. The plots received the combination of three storage environments: natural ambient, laboratory and cold chamber and two packaging: paper bags and glass, and the subplots consisted of storage periods 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. After each storage period were evaluated the weight of a thousand seeds, water content, germination percentage, index of germination rate, emergency speed index and mass of seedlings. The best condition for conservation of P. marginatum and P. tuberculatum seeds was obtained with the packaging in glass and keeping in cold chamber. When stored under normal ambient conditions lost viability in less than six months. Changes in seed vigour of these species are initially identified by decrease of germination rate.