Physiological Maturity of Seeds of Albizia hasslerii (Chodat) Burkat

Abstract

The need for quality native forest seeds highlights the need to know the best time to harvest them. The objective of this work was to define the fruit color of Albizia hasslerii that obtains seeds with physiological maturity (best time of harvest). The fruits were harvested and classified visually in 4 colors: 100% green, ≤ 50% brown, between 50% and 99.9% brown and 100% brown. Then, biometric attributes and the physiological potential of these seeds were estimated. A completely randomized design was used, the results were submitted to analysis of variance, and the means compared by the Tukey test (p <0.05). It was found that seeds from green fruits are not suitable for propagation for the species under study. Fruits with at least 50% brown had better physiological potential and a higher dry matter mass. We conclude that the best time to harvest A. hasslerii fruits is when the fruits are at least 50% brown.