EFFECT OF MATURITY AND DRYING OF Capsicum chinense Jacq. SEEDS ON THE GERMINATION AND PHYSIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF THE SEEDLING

Abstract

As time passes during seed development, the moisture content is reduced and germination increases; this is called acquisition of tolerance to desiccation. In habanero chili seeds (Capsicum chinense Jacq.), it is unknown whether this behavior occurs regularly, so that the physiological quality during seed development and its relationship with two types of seed drying was studied. Fruits were harvested at 20, 28, 36, 44 and 52 days after anthesis (DAA), extracting the seeds and applying two drying treatments to them, one at room temperature (28±3 °C) and another in a drying oven at 35 °C; a third group of seeds was sown immediately after the harvest (control). The seed of this species presented tolerance to desiccation from 36 DAA, which indicates that it reaches physiological maturity at this developing time, allowing germination when being dried; although desiccation did not improve the physiological quality in germination and emergence, it did improve the height of the offspring and the length of the radicle with regard to the control without drying, which evidences that drying does not affect germination but it can affect the vigor of the seed of this species