Seedling Growth of Promising Tree Species for the Remediation of Petroleum-Contaminated Areas

The germination of seeds of tree species that grow in soils contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons is necessary to know the vegetative development as part of the remediation strategies. Therefore, the growth of seedlings of ten tree species (Bursera simaruba, Byrsonima crassifolia, Cedrela odorata, Eugenia capuli, Guazuma ulmifolia, Inga inicuil, Pachira aquatica, Psidium guajava, Swietenia macrophylla, Tabebuia rosea) promising for the remediation of contaminated soils under nursery conditions with four pregerminative treatments. For this, an experiment was carried out with 1,560 seeds in a nursery with 60 % shade, beds and black bags were used to evaluate the growth of the species. The pregerminative treatments applied were control, mechanical scarification, soaking in water for 24 h, immersion in boiling water, soaking in sulfuric acid. The evaluation was 114 days. Treatments favored seedling growth, the best for rapid heights being soaking in sulfuric acid for B. simaruba, G. ulmifolia and S. macrophylla. For C. odorata and I. inicuil with the control they presented higher growth, for E. capuli, P. guajava and T. rosea, mechanical scarification was the best. However, the best treatment for P. aquatica was soaking in water for 24 h and for B. crassifolia it was immersion in boiling water. The pregerminative treatments helped to acquire a favorable growth and an adequate and ideal basal diameter for the species, with this, remediation and reforestation strategies can be achieved in the affected areas.