From crop seeds to Brazilian forest seeds: history of validation methods for germination tests

Abstract

For the commercialization of forest seeds, it is necessary to validate methods for germination tests. This review aimed to highlight the history of validation methods for germination tests of forest seeds based on reference research, classic and recent, as well as on researchers reports. These tests began in 1928, but only in 1954 methods were included in the official European rules of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA). In Brazil, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA) chose to adopt the methods by ISTA since the first edition of its rules, in 1967. Thus, the Brazilian official rules began to describe forest species with methods validated by international associations. The “Seeds Law” changed the scenario by demanding that analyzes be carried out using methods made official by the MAPA, and not just by mirroring the ISTA rules or bibliographic consultation. Based on this law, the first validation record for a species was made by the MAPA in 2013. The first records to make forest species methods official occurred in 2010 (10 species), 2011 (15 species) and 2013 (25 species). It is worth mentioning that the validation is a continuous and dynamic procedure, with no risk of stagnating the scientific research, since it does not exclude the possibility of incorporating new methods besides the validated ones.

KEYWORDS: Friedrich Nobbe, rules for seed germination, standardization of germination methodologies.