Anatomic and metabolic analyzes in seeds of Eugenia subjected to osmotic and thermal treatments

• Grant number: 13/03618-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: May 01, 2013
• End date: February 28, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Forestry Resources and Forestry Engineering - Nature Conservation
• Principal Investigator: Claudio José Barbedo
• Grantee: Cibelle Ferreira Françoso
• Host Institution: Instituto de Botânica. Secretaria de Meio Ambiente, Infraestrutura e Logística (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The need to maintain humid the desiccation intolerant seeds (recalcitrant) favors the proliferation of microorganisms, particularly fungi, greatly accelerating the rate of deterioration. However in the storage of these seeds with high water content the chemical control has not shown efficacy in controlling fungi. Alternative methods to chemical control, such as thermal and osmotic, have demonstrated some efficiency to assist in enabling the storage of recalcitrant seeds. Despite the success obtained with the thermal and osmotic control of fungi on seeds of Eugenia sp., little was known about its effects on the metabolism and structure of the seed. This study aims to analyze anatomical and metabolic transformations of osmotic and thermal treatments on recalcitrant seeds of Eugenia sp., seeking associate them with possible responses of these seeds to the attack of microorganisms.