Sample size for testing the germination of Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth, a native species of the Caatinga

Abstract

The objective of this work was to define the sample size to germination test of Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design, in 6 x 8 factorial, six different seed quantities (20; 25; 30; 50; 70 and 100) and eight numbers of repetitions (3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8 ; 9 and 10), with five repetitions. Were used 20 repetitions for each number of seeds, with drawings to obtain repetitions of each treatment. The germination test was conducted in BOD germination, at 30 °C with 12 hours photoperiod, on germitest paper. The characteristics evaluated were: variation index for germination percentage and for germination velocity. The seed number that resulted in a lower variation index for the number six, seven, eight and ten repetitions, ranged from 65 to 79 seeds per repetition. For three and five repetitions was found a tendency of reduction of the variation index for germination percentage with increasing on the number of seeds per repetition, justifying the use for germination test of, at least, six repetitions. For the germination velocity index, the effect was not observed on the number of repetition, on the variation index, while the seed number that resulted in lower variation index, regardless of the number of repetitions was 75 seeds. For the batch of seeds evaluated was recommended the use of six repetitions with the number of seeds per repetition ranging from 65 to 79.