Germination of Seeds of Interspecific Hybrid Caiaué × Oil Palm Submitted to the Mechanical Depulping

Oil palm seeds respond well to protocols of dormancy break, however, the seeds of interspecific hybrid (HIE) (caiaué × oil palm) have lower germination rates. The mechanical depulping can af-fect the potential of germination of seeds, therefore the objective of this study was to evaluate the mechanical depulping on the seed germination, vigor and viability of embryos HIE BRS Manicoré. A randomized block design with five treatments, based on the depulping time and on the percen-tage of mesocarp on the seed with four replications was used. The percentage of seed germination, the germination speed index (GSI), the percentage of fungi and abnormal seeds and vigor and via-bility of embryos were evaluated. There was no statistical difference (p < 0.05) between treat-ments for all variables. The average of germination at 35 days was 45.34 % and embryos showed high to medium vigor by the tetrazolium test. The mechanical depulping do not affect the seed germination, nor the viability and vigor of embryos HIE BRS Manicoré. It is recommended that the fruits of HIE BRS Manicoré remain in depulper machine for 40 minutes to completely remove th