Thermotherapy on seed quality of <i>Myracrodruon urundeuva</i>

Abstract

The low seeds quality and irrational exploitation led to forest species extinction, such as Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão. As there is no pesticides registration for seeds treatment of forest species, the use of alternative methods is essential, such as thermotherapy, an efficient method for seeds pathogens control. Thus, this research aimed to determine the efficiency of thermotherapy on the sanitary and physiological quality of M. urundeuva seeds. The seeds were collected from three parent trees in the municipality of Sousa-PB, Brazil and subjected to treatments: dicarboximide fungicide, seeds immersion at 40 and 50 °C for 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes and the control. The sanitary and physiological quality of the treated seeds is considered. The experiment was in a completely randomized experimental design, in a 3×10 factorial scheme (3 matrix trees for 10 treatments). Thermotherapy at 50°C has shown promise as M. urundeuva seeds disease management strategy, being effective in Alternaria sp. control. Thermotherapy at 50°C, for 5 minutes, does not compromise the physiological quality of aroeira seeds and can be used as a sustainable alternative for the production of high-vigor seedlings.