CONDICIONAMENTO OSMÓTICO NA GERMINAÇÃO DE SEMENTES DE MAMÃO

The papaya seeds of Golden cultivar in the stage two of maturation, with 9% of humidity were placed to soaked in distilled water for 0, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 and 72 hours, at 25oC. The osmotic conditioning of seeds was done with PEG 6000 solutions, in the concentrations of -0,50, -1,0 and -1,5 MPa, with and without addition of 200ppm of AG 3, at 25oC, for periods of 7, 14 and 21 days. The germination test was accomplished after seeds treatment, in both conditions, humid and after drying. A completely randomized design was used, in a factorial scheme. In the first experiment, treatments consisted of a combination of seven soaking periods, with or without drying at initial moisture. The second experiment consisted of a combination of three poliethylenoglycol concentrations and three conditioning periods, with and without gibberellic acid and drying, with four replications. The soaking periods of 12, 60 and 72 hours for humid seeds and 12 and 24 hours for drying ones provided improvement in seed germination. There were no significant differences between osmotic concentrations on seeds germination, but the osmotic conditioning without AG3 for 14 and 21 days and with AG3 for 7, 14 and 21 days, were efficient in improving the germination of humid papaya seeds. Seeds drying negatively effected seeds germination.