Germination rate of guaje seeds by applying ruminant gastric juices

Abstract

Leucaena leucocephala is a high quality protein source for livestock. However, for its establishment in silvopastoral systems requires a scarification process to increase the germination of the seeds, therefore it was evaluated the effect of six scarification methods in greenhouse conditions. The experiment was conducted in the municipality of Tantoyuca, Veracruz, Mexico. Seed of L. leucocephala cv. Cunningham under a completely randomized experimental design, with six treatments: immersion in abomasum liquid at 80 ° C for 3 minutes (T1), sanded seed (sandpaper # 320) and immersion in abomaso fluid for 24 hours (T2), immersion for 48 hours in ruminal fluid (T3), immersion in water at 80 ° C for 3 minutes (T4), sanded seed (Sandpaper # 320) and immersion in water for 24 hours (T5), and seeds without scarification method (T6) . The germination percentage was evaluated at 25 days after the seeds were planted. An analysis of variance (General Linear Model) and tests of comparison of means of significant difference with SAS 9.1 were performed. T5 and T1 (91.55% and 86% respectively) were the highest values. The lowest results were for T6 with 5.19% germination and these were similar to T3 (10.23%). The scarification of L. leucocephala by a physical method (T5) is best because it had the highest germination porcentage, however, it is limited because the process is complicated; Using T1 is promising for its greater germination and its practical.