PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS ON ATEMOYA SEEDS GERMINATION

The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of plant regulators on seed germination of different atemoya cultivars: Thompson, Gefner and PR-1. The seeds were extracted from ripe fruits and submitted to the following treatments: 50 mg L-1 gibberellic acid (GA3), 10 ml kg-1 of seeds (Stimulate®), 6 ml kg-1 of seeds (Evolust®), and control. The experimental design was completely randomized in a factorial 4x3 (three seed treatments + control x three cultivars), using five samples of 25 seeds. The seeds were sowed on paper and placed in a germination chamber, using alternated temperature 20-30oC (16h - 8h) under light absence. There were evaluated the percentage of germinated seeds, normal seedlings, abnormal seedlings, and the germination speed index. The Thompson cultivar presented the highest percentage of germinated seeds, normal seedlings, and germination speed index, followed by the Gefner cultivar. Among the products, the GA3 promoted greater germination percentage. Using GA3 and Stimulate®, as a pre-germination treatment, provided high percentage of normal seedlings. The products utilized did not affect the germination speed index