GIBBERELLINS AND CYTOKININS EFFECTS ON PEACH SEED GERMINATION

Abstract

A satisfactory seed germination followed by a promptly seedling formation, for any fruits species, is desired when aiming reductions at nursery production costs. The research aimed to assess the role of plant regulators (cytokinin associated to gibberellin group) on peach seed germination (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) without endocarp. It was used seed of cultivars Okinawa, Capdeboscq e Tsukuba. The commercial products applied were Promalina^® (benziladenina + GA _{4 + 7}) and Pro-Gibb^® (GA ₃) at 0, 100, 200 and 300 mg L^-1 of the active principle. The seeds were set in Petri dishes lined with filter paper previously moistened in an aqueous solution of fungicide and bactericide and kept at room temperature (±21 ºC). ‘Capdeboscq’ provided the best results regarding to seed germination and emergence velocity, at all concentrations of both plant regulators. The use of benziladenina + GA_{4 + 7} at 200 and 300 mg L^-1 provided the highest germination percentage (80,0% and 78,3%, respectively), and highest index of daily germination velocity (0,078 and 0,081, respectively).