Deterioração controlada em sementes de orquídeas

Abstract

Orchid seeds are the smallest and rich in lipids, which turn them in an ideal model to deterioration studies as large populations can be worked in small samples. Controlled deterioration (CD) is a procedure that uses a control in the seed water content during ageing process. The objective of this work was to verify the controlled deterioration effect over orchid seeds. This work was done by the first time with five tropical orchid species: Cattleya brevicaulis, C. tenebrosa, C. amethystoglossa, C. tigrina and Encyclia granitica submitted to three temperatures 41, 43 and 45ºC during the periods of 0, 1, 3, 6, 9, 15, 24 and 48 hours. The variables Total germination, Germination Velocity Index (GVI), Tetrazolium test, MDA content, SOD and PRX activities were evaluated. Results were more expressive after 15 horas of exposition to temperatures of 43 and 45ºC. Total germination, GVI and Tetrazolium test exhibited decreases with the increase in the controlled deterioration. Cattleya tigrina and C. tenebrosa showed expressive increase of MDA content after 48h of controlled deterioration, the other species (C. amethystoglossa, C. brevicaulis and Encyclia granitica) did not. Enzyme activities (SOD and PRX) showed decreases in all temperatures. Total germination, GVI and Tetrazolium test were more efficient to detect variations in the aged seeds.