Tabebuia roseo-alba is a tree species largely used in restoration of degraded diverse plant communities and permanent preservation areas, general landscaping and as wood building material. Its seeds present strong variation in quality during storage and also a short period of viability, which hampers its natural dispersal as well as the development of cropping techniques for this tree. Aiming to obtain some informations related to seed preservation, the objective of this research was to study the physiological performance of Tabebuia roseo-alba seeds during storage. Mature fruits were hand collected from mother trees and placed under shade for a short period of natural drying in order to allow easy seed removal. Soon after that, the seed moisture content was determined and a representative portion of the seed lot was removed to constitute the highest moisture level to be studied, which was 10.1%. The remaining seeds were then submitted to drying at 25 °C inside a glass desiccator containing silica gel (anhydrous calcium chloride) in order to obtain 8,3% moisture degree. The two portions, after being divided into five replications, were stored in chambers at 10, 20, and -20 °C. At the beginning (freshly collected seeds) and at 60, 120, 180, 240, 300 and 360 days of storage, the seeds were submitted to the following physiological evaluations: germination, seedling emergence, speed of emergence, and length of the above ground seedling part (hypocotyl). The experiment was a completely randomized design, with two treatments (degrees of moisture) at the beginning of storage and six treatments (2 moisture levels x 3 thermal conditions), in each evaluation period, during storage. Means were compared by the Tukey test at 5%. The preservation of Tabebuia roseo-alba seeds, considering the moisture contents of 10.1% and 8,3%, is favored by storage temperatures of 10 and -20 °C.
Tabebuia sp; propagation; storage condition; physiological quality
