Avaliação da pureza, peso, conteúdo de humidade e germina calliandra calothyrsus meissner, leucaena pallida britton & rose e moringa oleifera lam., da APS do ICRAF em Maputo

Abstract

ummary This work presents results of the quality analysis of Calliandra calothyrsus, Leucaena pallida and Moringa oleifera seeds produced in the APS of the ICRAF (International council for Research in agroforesttry) in tests carried out in the seed laboratory of the CEF (Forestry Experimentation Center) in Marraquene. The results of purity, number of seeds/kg, moisture content, for each species, were as follows; Caliandra callothyrsus: purity 99.7 %, number of seeds 25943.7 seeds/kg, moisture content 7.55 %. Leucaenu pallida: purity 99.9 %, number of seeds 31775.0 seeds/kg, moisture content 6.95 %. Moringa oleifera: purity 99.7 %, number of seeds 3279.0 seeds/kg, moisture content 6.55 %. Germination tests were carried out with pre-treatments, to evaluate the best method for breaking dormancy. The pre-treatments performed were as follows; control, submerge the seed in water at room temperature for 24 hours. 48 hours, 72 hours and seed submersion in water at a temperature of 80°C for 3 minutes and were tested using a completely randomized design, with four replications. The results obtained, for each species, were the following: the average percentage of germination was: Caliandra callothyrsus 45.6%, Leucaena pallida 35.6% and Moringa oleifera 85.6%. Germination variance analysis did not detect significant differences between pre-treatments for Caliandra callothyrsus and Moringa oleifera. Differences between pre-treatments were significant at the 5% level in Leucaena pallida. All three species gave good results regarding purity and moisture content for seed storage. Percent purity was 99.7%, 99.9% and 99.7% for Caliandra callothyrsus, Leucaena pallida and Moringa oleifera, respectively. The moisture content in the three species was 7.55%. 6.95 % and 6.55 %. The germination of Caliandra callothyrsus and Leucaena pallida was sufficient, of Moringa oleifera it was very good. The efficient pre-treatments to break the dormancy of the seeds of Caliandra callothyrsus and Leucaena pallida were the submersion of the seed in water at room temperature for 48 h and submersion of the seed in hot water at a temperature of 80°C, for 3 minutes, respectively. Moringa oleifera seed does not need pre-treatment to stimulate germination.