Tabebuia chrysotricha (Mart. ex A. DC.) Standl. is a tree species of high ecological, economical and landscape value. Its seeds present significant variation in quality during storage, which hampers the development of propagation techniques. The objective of this research was, through variations in seed water content and environment temperature, to study the physiological performance of Tabebuia chrysotricha seeds during storage. Fruits were hand-collected from mother plants and placed under shade for a short time to allow easy extraction by hand. Firstly, the initial moisture content of the whole seed lot was determined, and a portion of it was drawn so that to represent the control treatment, with the highest moisture level to be studied (21,1%). Following that, the remaining seeds were dried in a forced air dryer at 28 ± 2ºC, for different periods, in order to obtain water contents of 15,9, 13,6, 11,9, and 8,5%. The portions, corresponding to the different moisture degrees were stored at temperatures of -12, 10 and 20ºC. Initially and at 30 day intervals until 270 days of storage, seeds were evaluated in relation to water content, germination, emergence, speed of emergence, and length of aerial seedling parts. The highest and the lowest moisture contents studied (21,1 and 8,5%) were detrimental to the physiological quality of the seeds even at the extremely low storage temperature of -12ºC. The preservation of Tabebuia chrysotricha seeds, with water content between 8,5% and 22,1%, is favored by the water content of 11,9% at the temperatures of 10 and -12ºC.
Tabebuia chrisotricha; propagation; storage condition; physiological quality
