Protocolos de criopreservação de sementes de romã e juá.

Abstract

Seed quality is defined as the sum of all genetic, physical, physiological and health attributes, which influence the ability of plants to originate high production capacity. This way the physical characteristics such as size and shape are of great interest for the control and automation of equipment aiming to improve product quality, adding economic value and thus reducing costs of labor, operating time in processing and post-harvest. The present study was conducted with the objective to evaluate the effect of varying the water content in the physical properties of pomegranate seeds and juá seeds coated with endocarp, by adjusting the linear mathematical model to the experimental values in function of water content. The results showed that the length, width and thickness of pomegranate seeds and juá seeds coated with endocarp increased with the increase of water content; the linear model represents successfully the physical properties of pomegranate seeds and juá seeds coated with endocarp; the porosity of the mass of juá seeds coated with of endocarp shows a linear increase in its values with the decrease of water content, while the porosity of pomegranate seeds declined with the decrease of water content and sphericity values increased linearly with the increase of water content.