The purpose of this research was to evaluate the influence of harvest time and pre-germinating treatments on germination and vigor of seeds of Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth. Thus, an experiment was carried out in the Laboratory of Seed Analysis of CCA-UFPB, in Areia-PB, using a completely randomized design in a 2 x 2 x 14factorial scheme, with the factors being year of harvest (2002 and 2003), seeds inside or outside the craspedium and pre-germinating treatments, with four repetitions of 50 seeds per treatment. The treatments consisted of immersion in water at ambient temperature for 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 hours; immersion in hot water at 70, 80, 90 and 100ºC during one minute; immersion in hot water at 70, 80, 90 and 100ºC until total cooling and check (intact seeds). The analyzed characteristics were: percentage, first counting and seedling emergence speed index. Immersion in hot water (80ºC) up to total cooling, using the 2002 seeds followed by the same treatment at 90ºC, with seeds sown outside the craspedium were more adequate for the germination and vigor tests in M. caesalpiniifolia. The seeds sown outside the craspedium were more appropriate for evaluation of seed physiological quality, regardless of the evaluated year.
Mimosa caesalpiniifolia; craspedium and germination
