Physiological Maturity of Parapiptadenia rigida Seeds

The establishment of appropriate standards related to the physiological and morphological aspects of the seeds are fundamental procedures to help the nurserymen and seed producers in determining the maturity and the appropriate moment of collection of the fruits. In this sense, the objective of this research is to evaluate the physiological maturation of seeds of Parapiptadenia rigida by means of germination and vigor tests, based on the color of the pods. The seeds were collected in June 2017, from three matrices located in the municipality of Marechal Cândido Rondon, Paraná, Brazil. The pods were classified in four stages of maturation, according to the Chart of colors model "Munsell colors chart" for plants tissues, and measured the biometric parameters. The parameters observed to evaluate the germinative potential are: first germination count, germination velocity index, emergency velocity index, and fresh and dry matter masses of seedlings. The experimental design was completely randomized, with five maturation stages and four replicates of 25 seeds each. The averages were compared using the Tukey test at a 5% probability. The germination test showed that the increase in physiological potential of P. rigida seeds is associated with the progresses of pod maturation. Therefore, the vigor test demonstrated that the physiological maturation of the species is simultaneous with the change of coloration and maturation of the pods.