Bottie gourd - Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl - the fruits harvested from a farm localed in Restinga Seca county, were used to evaluate seeds in the Seed Laboratory of the Federal University of Santa Maria. The effect of fruit size on seed physiological quality was studied using seeds from ten large, medium and small bottle gourd fruits. Fruits were characterized by the length, the diameter. the shell thickness, and by the number of seeds. The seeds were characterized by the length, the width, the thickness, and the weight of 1000 seeds. Water fermentation during 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours and dipping in HCl solution by 10, 20, and 30% during 30 minutes were used to compare methods of extracting seeds from medium bottle gourd fruits stored for 60 days. The manual extraction of seeds was considered as the control treatment. The physiological quality of the seeds was evaluated by the germination and the first counting test and averaging time of germination parameters. Results indicated that the size of botlle gourd fruit can be characterized either by the length or the width. Lighter seeds with smaller width and thickness were extracted from smaller fruits. The treatment with HCl solution specially on 20 and 30% concentration was not efficient for the extracting bottle gourd seeds because the cleaning process was more difficult and qffècted negatively seed germination and the vigor. The results show that as the size of the fruits increase the number and weight of seeds also increase without changing the ability to produce normal seedlings. The cleaning process of bottle gourd seeds in HCl solution reduces their vigor. The best period of fermentation of seeds was observed in water at 25°C for 72 hours, however, the period from 48 to 96 hours improved their physiological quality and also facilitated the cleaning process. The bottle gourd seeds germinate in environment with 43.4% of humidity and resonable air temperature, humidity and aeration.
germination; vigor; Lagenaria siceraria
