Abstract

DE OLIVEIRA SILVEIRA, Thaísa; RODRIGUES SA BRAZ, Madelon; DE MOURA PALERMO, Gilmara Pires  and  BOER BREIER, Tiago. Physiological quality of pink pepper seeds (Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi) as a function of storage. Rev. Cienc. Agr. [online]. 2021, vol.38, n.1, pp.144-157.  Epub Aug 30, 2021. ISSN 0120-0135.  https://doi.org/10.22267/rcia.213801.150.

Seeds of native forest species for food and seedling production have a growing demand that impacts the need for studies involving seed storage to maintain good levels of germination quality. Thus, scientific analyzes that explore the physiological potential of these seeds’ species are necessary; especially for the pink pepper (Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi), a species used as an alternative source of income for traditional communities, and which has been arousing interest due to the consumption of its fruits as a condiment in the national and international market. This work aimed to assess the physiological quality of pink pepper seeds according to the storage period and seed size. The seeds come from a rural settlement, a pioneer in the extraction of pink pepper, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The seeds were evaluated for moisture content, germination, first count, length and dry weight of the germinated seedlings during the period of time that they remained stored, and the size of the seeds. The results allowed us to conclude that: i) the germinative percentage of the stored pink pepper seeds decreased over the months. ii) The moisture content of the seeds decreased over the evaluated months. iii) The different seeds’ sizes did not show differences in germination and storage time, and iv) values of length and dry weight of the seedlings did not differ according to the period of storage.

Keywords : Storage; germination; conservation; physiological quality; agricultural settlement.

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