The objectives of the study were to standardize the tetrazolium test and to evaluate its applicability to estimate viability of Gleditschia amorphoides seeds. Initially, different pre-conditioning treatments were tested: intact seed, mechanical scarification, scarification followed by 24 or 48 hours of imbibition, with and without seed coat removal. All the pre-treated seeds were submitted to 1, 3 or 6 hours in tetrazolium solution at 0.025; 0.050; 0.075 and 0.10% at 35ºC, in the dark. Seeds subjected to scarification and imbibed for 48 hours, with seed coat removal immersed in 0.075 % solution for 3 hours presented ideal coloration making possible the distinction of viable from unviable seeds. Using the above described protocol we evaluated it to estimate viability of Gleditschia amorphoides seeds by comparing with germination tests. There were no significant differences between results from either test. The protocol using 0.075% tetrazolium solution for 3 hours can estimate viability of Gleditschia amorphoides seeds.
forest seeds; viability; sucará
