INTRACAPSULAR SEED COLLECTION, AN IMPORTANT VARIABLE IN IN VITRO ANNATTO (Bixa orellana</I> L) GERMINATION, PLANT TO TREAT SNAKEBITES

Abstract

To establish the incidence of the time of collection and some disinfections and imbibition treatment on the seed germination in vitro of Bixa orellana L, mature seeds are collected via intracapsule or postextrusion, with a little weight variation (25.57 ± 0.01 mg,). Once the seeds are disinfected and in some case exposed to imbibition process, they are transfered to culture medium and are kept in complete darkness to 25 ± 1 ºC, for seven weeks. The germination is influenced by the imbibition treatment, the growing time and the collection moment. On the other hand, the extracapsular seeds have a lower germination percent than those collected prior to rupture since in this the germination manifests during the first week of growing with significant statistical increases in the extrusion. Likewise, depending on the imbibition and disinfections treatment that is used, the germination percents can increase up to 78%, avoiding the poor germination rate showed by some authors from this promising vegetable species.

Keywords

• Bixa orellana
• seed germination
• annatto