The sapodilla is an important fruit tree and the fruits produced are very appreciated by consumers. The plant is propagated either via grafting or directly via seeds. In the latter case, the phenomenon of dormancy has delayed or provoked the lack of uniformity of plantations. Taking into account the fact that many forest and fruit species present the phenomenon of dormancy, and considering the necessity of further studies that might explain this process better, the objective of the present work was to evaluate the efficiency of different pre-treatments aiming accelerating and promoting the uniformity of sapodilla seeds germination. The experiment was carried out in the greenhouse of the Department of "Fitotecnia", CCA/UFPB, Areia, Paraíba State. The pre-treatments consisted of: 1. total immersion of the sapodilla seeds in water (60°C) for 1, 2 and 3 minutes; 2. lateral cut to the embryo seeds with and without later immersion, in water (room temperature) for 24 hours; 3. peripheral cut to the embryo seeds with and without later immersion, in water (room temperature) for 24 hours; 4. lateral and peripheral cut to the embryo seeds, with and without later immersion, in water (room temperature) for 24 hours, and control (lack of treatment). After the treatments were carried out, the seeds were sowed in trays containing sterilized sand with four repetitions of 25 seeds. The vigor was evaluated in terms of percentage and index of emergence, root and hipocotyl length and the weight of the plants dry substance. The experimental delineation was randomized and the contrasts resulting from the averages were undertaken through the Duncan test at the level of 5% of probability. The sapodilla seeds revealed greater emergency (81%) and speed rate of emergency (0,58) when submitted to lateral cut, without immersion. The cut of the seeds followed by immersion for 24 hours was not efficient to accelerate the emergency and the emergency speed rate of sapodilla plants. The greatest vigor was obtained by the non-immersed seeds cut laterally to the embryo. The seeds which were immersed in water (60°C) for 1, 2 and 3 minutes presented the least vigor.
vigor; dormancy; exotic fruits
