In vitro germination and seedling formation of Plantago tomentosa Lam. (Plantaginaceae): influence of concentrations of the MS medium

Plantago tomentosa Lam. (Plantaginaceae) is an herbaceous plant native to Brazil. It is widely used in folk medicine. The species has potential for use in the pharmaceutical and food industry due to its possible bioactive properties and the presence of mucilage in the seeds. The objective of this work was to investigate the influence of different concentrations of Murashige-Skoog (MS) medium on germination and seedling formation in vitro of P. tomentosa. The seeds were collected in Lajeado, disinfected, and inoculated in bottles with MS medium added to 7 g L-1 of agar and 30 g L-1 of sucrose, in four treatments: 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of the medium concentration. The experimental design was completely randomized, consisting of 17 replications of ten seeds for each treatment. The evaluation of germination and formed seeds was carried out every two days to determine the variables of germination percentage (GP), mean germination time (MGT), germination speed index (GSI), seedling formation percentage (SFP), mean seedling formation time (MSFT) and seedling formation speed index (SFSI). No significant difference was found between treatments for all the assessed variables. It is concluded that the use of a concentration of 25% of the MS medium is viable, as it promoted a high percentage of germination and seedling formation and in a time interval similar to that of the other concentrations, with the advantage of using fewer reagents.