Resumen

LOPEZ MEDINA, Segundo Eloy  y  GIL RIVERO, Armando Efraín. Germination characteristics of seeds of Theobroma cacao L. (Malvaceae) "cacao" . Arnaldoa [online]. 2017, vol.24, n.2, pp.609-618. ISSN 1815-8242.  http://dx.doi.org/10.22497/arnaldoa.242.24212.

The seeds of T. cacao L. (Malvaceae) are called the food of the gods because of their high energy content and their provision of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. As the chocolate is the main product of its seeds, its cultivation has spread in the world and it is important to know the different ways of propagation to generate uniform and vigorous populations, to optimize production. The objective of this research was to determine the germinative characteristics of seeds of T. cacao L. "cacao". The plant material (seeds) came from the La Merced-Laredo countryside and the experimental phase was carried out in the Biotechnology Laboratory of the Potato and Andean Crops Institute of the National University of Trujillo, with a completely random statistical design, with 3 replicates per treatment. The germination percentage, emergence and germinative vigor was determined and viability was also estimated using the reagent 2, 3, 5-triphenyltetrazolium. As conclusion, the evaluated seed lot of T. cacao L. showed 88.9 % of germination and 71.1 % of emergence. Its germinative vigor was 80.3 %, while the viability study showed the existence of 40% of viable seeds with high vigor, 35 % of viable seeds with low vigor and 25 % of non-viable seeds.

Palabras clave : germination characteristics; seeds; Theobroma; cacao.

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