PULPING, STORAGE, AND TEMPERATURE ON THE GERMINATION OF AUSTRALIAN KING PALM SEEDS

Abstract

The Australian King palm (Archontophoenix alexandrae) is suitable for the rational exploitation of heart of palm, mainly due to its early maturity, rusticity, and heart of palm quality. Aiming at studying the effect of pulping, storage, and temperature on the germination of its seeds, two experiments were carried out. The first one combined five pulping methods (hand pulping with the aid of a sieve, after harvesting; pulping in sulfuric acid; moisturized fruits stored in plastic bags for three days, for fermentation; fruits immersed in water for three days, with the water being daily replaced; and not pulped fruits) and four storage periods (0, 30, 75, and 120 days), at 20ºC. The design was completely randomized, in a 5x4 factorial scheme, with five replications of 30 seeds. For the second experiment, seeds extracted after fruits were immersed in water for three days were taken to germinate in a completely randomized design, with six treatments and five replications of 30 seeds, under different temperatures (constant temperatures of 25ºC, 30ºC, 35ºC, and 40ºC, as well as alternating temperatures of 30ºC/20ºC (day/night) and 35ºC/25ºC (day/night)). The germination percentage and the germination speed index were evaluated and the pulping method with fruits immersed in water was considered the best one for preserving seeds before and after storage, as well as 25ºC the best temperature for promoting the germination of the Australian King palm seeds.