Verification of non-deep physiological dormancy and treatment to overcome seed dormancy in Campomanesia phaea (O. Berg) Landrum

ABSTRACT: Cambuci [Campomanesia phaea (O.Berg) Landrum] is a native Brazilian fruit tree species from the Atlantic Forest, belonging to the Myrtaceae family, with great potential for commercial exploitation. The propagation of this species is limited to seeds, which exhibit low and uneven germination, posing a challenge for large-scale seedling production due to potential dormancy. The objective of this study was to verify the existence of dormancy in cambuci seeds and determine the most effective dormancy-breaking treatment. First, an X-ray test was conducted on the seeds, and the results were correlated with their germination and tetrazolium test outcomes. Subsequently, different methods were applied to overcome dormancy, including stratification, soaking, and gibberellin treatments. Cambuci seeds exhibit simple non-deep physiological dormancy, which can be overcome by stratification for 28 days at 15 oC.