Abstract

BAUTISTA-CALLES, Francisco; CARRILLO-CASTANEDA, Guillermo  and  VILLEGAS-MONTER, Ángel. Recuperation of the high germinability condition of papaya seed through priming technology and bioregulators. Agrociencia [online]. 2008, vol.42, n.7, pp. 817-826. ISSN 1405-3195.

Rapid loss of seed viability of Carica papaya L. (papaya) and its high commercial price impairs the availability of high quality seed to growers. Certified papaya seed cv. Maradol was utilized to define practical methodologies to restore the seed germination performance. Seed was submitted to: 1) hydropriming: 4 d of hydropriming rose seed germination up to 84%, 250% more than the untreated seeds; however, the seedlings generated from untreated seeds accumulated more biomass than the other treatments; 2) chemopriming: seeds treated 4 d in a 10^-5 M calcium chloride solution germinated 262% more than did the untreated seeds and in addition, the seedlings generated from treated seeds accumulated more biomass than the control seedlings. When seeds were treated either in the 10^-4 M salicylic acid or in Agromil S® solution high germination was accomplished 81 and 73% higher than the untreated seed respectively. All treated seeds germinated faster than the untreated ones.

Keywords : Carica papaya; acetylsalicylic acid; agromil S®; calcium chloride; chemopriming; hydropriming.