With the aim to evaluate the effect of the giberellic acid on germination of seeds of citrus rootstocks an experiment was carried out at the Tissue Culture Laboratory of Universidade Federal de Lavras. A randomized block design was used with factorial scheme 5 x 4, with four replications adopting: lemon tree 'Cravo', mandarin tree 'Sunki', mandarin tree 'Cleópatra', hybrids 'UFLAD- 4' and 'UFLAD-5' as rootstocks; 0, 60, 120 and 180 mg L-1 as the giberellic acid concentrations. The experimental plot was made up of 25 test tubes with one intact seed per tube inoculated at culture medium employing water + agar at 7 mg L-1. After inoculation, the tubes were stored in growth room at 25ºC and 80% of relative humidity, with a photoperiod of 16 hours. The following variables were evaluated: determination of the germination percentage, speed germination index (IVG) and seedling number per seed (NPS). The analyses showed that lemon tree 'Cravo' presented the better germination rate and speed germination index; the hybrid 'UFLAD-5' presented the highest seedling number per seed, there being no effect of giberellic acid on characteristics evaluated.
growth regulator; giberellin; Citrus sp.; propagation
