Researches on physic nut micropropagation have resulted in reports about difficulties in the process of in vitro germination of fresh seeds, and we hypothesized that this dormancy is related to endosperm presence. Aiming to investigate the influence of the endosperm presence on in vitro development of zygotic embryos of physic nut, pure and filtered extracts of the endosperm of newly harvested and stored seeds for up to 100 days were added to MS medium, in which zygotic embryos were added alone or attached to the endosperm. It was observed that the endosperm presence attached to the embryo seems to establish dormancy to the restart of the embryo development. Moreover, addition of endosperm extracts into the MS medium greatly reduced the embryos development, supporting the idea that in addition to probable inhibition physics, the endosperm may contribute to chemical inhibitors in the germination process. All these idea were supported by perfect embryo development when it was added to MS medium without endosperm structure or extract.
Jatropha curcas; growth; dormancy; seed physiology
