The germination ability of Dalbergia nigra seeds was evaluated under laboratory and nursery conditions, in order to verify the efficiency of the lab germination test to predict the germination of seed lots of this species under nursery conditions. With this purpose seeds belonging to three seed lots (harvest years: lot I-1998, lot II-1997 and lot III-1994) were used to determine biometric characters, water content, germination, germination speed index, first germination count, percentage of normal seedlings in the laboratory and emergence index and percentage of normal seedlings in the nursery. Seeds belonging to lot III had the worst quality, either in laboratory and in the nursery. The high values of the correlation coefficient, among the characters analysed, in both conditions, show clearly the efficiency of the laboratory germination test to predict the germination ability of Dalbergia nigra seeds under nursery conditions.
Dalbergia nigra; jacarandá-da-bahia; germination
