Abstract

GONZALEZ, Yolanda; REINO, J  and  TORAL, Odalys. Seed quality of accessions collected in the western, eastern and central regions of Cuba (Technical note). Pastos y Forrajes [online]. 2011, vol.34, n.3, pp.259-265. ISSN 0864-0394.

Two collection missions were conducted during 2007 (western and eastern regions) and 2009 (central region) in Cuba, which comprised certain zones of the provinces Granma, Guantánamo, Holguín, Las Tunas, Camagüey, Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, Sancti Spiritus and Villa Clara. Seeds from 88 accessions (52 tree and 36 herbaceous accessions) were collected. Afterwards, all of them went through a germination test in Petri dishes with river sand, with a previous coat cut, to know their quality. The number of used seeds was variable in each accession, in correspondence with the sample size and only one replication was used. The germination counts were made according to international rules. High quality was obtained in the seeds of tree and shrub species (70-100%), which did not happen in Swietenia sp. from Granma (0 and 8%) or in Jatropha curcas collected in Pinar del Río, Guantánamo (0%) and Banao (8%), or in Albizia lebbeck from Guantánamo or Guazuma ulmifolia (24%) collected in Villa Clara. For the herbaceous legumes germination varied between 80 and 100%, except in Macroptilium atropurpureum (60%) and in Teramnus (12%) from Granma, in Neonotonia wightii (20%) collected in Matanzas, in Calopogonium sp. (52%) from Banao and in Glycine sp. (50%) from Sancti Spiritus. Seed quality was concluded to depend on the time they were in the field after pod maturation. To continue the collection in other zones of the country is recommended, which will allow higher diversity in livestock production systems.

Keywords : Legumes; plant collection; quality, seed.

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