Abstract
Accepted 27th August, 2015
The araçá-boi is a native fruit of the Amazon known for its organoleptic properties of fruit, however it presents the seed dormancy. The use of coherent light in the evaluation of biological activity has great potential for allowing identify damage in seeds. This technique is based on the phenomenon known as dynamic speckle or biospeckle. So we proposed the use of biospeckle technique in determining the viability and vigor correlating with the germination behavior and seedling development in the field. The seeds used in Experiment 1 were grouped according to their dimensions in large, medium and small. Then were subjected to the following treatments to break dormancy: (A) control, (B) removal of seed coat with sandpaper aid and (C) removal of seed coat with scalpel. In the osmoconditioning experiment similar seed size were used. To break dormancy were placed in germination boxes, previously lined with filter paper soaked in potassium nitrate solution for 24 h at 25°C. Then the images were obtained by biospeckle technique of seed groups submitted to these two different treatments. The use of biospeckle technique was efficient in determining the viability and vigor of the seeds of araçá-boi. Large seeds and medium were more active. The speed emergence of large and medium sized seeds and seedling development observed in the experiment corroborate with the data of the activity observed by biospeckle technique. Similarly seeds osmoconditioned in KNO3 for 24 h had higher emergence rate and activity observed by biospeckle analysis.
Terms for indexing: dynamic speckle, Eugenia stipitata, germination, laser.