Pre-imbibition on moringa seeds

Abstract

Moringa is an oilseed crop that has a high potential for biodiesel production, with great importance for small family farms. The objective of this work was to establish the imbibition curve and evaluate the effect of pre-soaking in twinning moringa seeds, targeting the early establishment in the production of seedlings. To determine the curve of soaking, the seeds were distributed on germination paper moistened with 2.5 times the weight in grams of the paper with distilled water, and seed mass monitored every two hours during the first 24 hours and after 24 hours the evaluations were performed every four hours up to 134 hours. For the pre-soaking were employed two different seed batches, the first with freshly harvested seeds, and the second with three months stored seeds, both batches of seed was submerged in water for 24 hours. It was used four replicates of 25 seeds in a randomized design. The seeds were kept in a germination chamber type BOD at 25 ºC under continuous light. The evaluations were performed every 48 hours and assessed the percentage, index of germination, average time and speed of germination, length and dry weight of roots, and hypocotyl of seedlings. The seed of moringa need 0.2 grams of water over a period of 128 hours to germinate. Seed pre-soaking in water for 24 hours is effective to promote the best expression of viability and vigor in moringa.