Avaliação da germinação e crescimento inicial de plântulas de Lactuca sativa L. expostas à polivinilpirrolidona

Abstract

Seed germination is a crucial moment for plant development and growth, once the species has suffered any kind of injury, excess or scarcity, the consequences can be permanent. Thus, the present work aims to evaluate the germination of Lactuca sativa L. (lettuce) in different concentration of polyvinylpyrrolidone polymer (PVP). Seed sowing (30/plate) was conducted in sterilized Petri dishes containing filter paper. In each plate, 3mL of the aqueous PVP solution was added at concentrations 0.001 mmol/L, 0.01 mmol/L, 0.1 mmol/L, 1 mmol/L and a control group with distilled water. Each treatment had 3 replicates. Seed germination was evaluated daily, at the end of the 7th day, measurements of hypocotyl length, radicle, fresh and dry mass weight, germination percentage tests, vigor index, tolerance, germination speed, water content and photosynthesizing pigments were performed.. The data were expressed in mean ± standard error and submitted to one way ANOVA followed by the Tukey test (the means were considered different when p<0.05). The group treated with 1 mmol/L presented the radicle development affected, while all others did not present major impacts. %G, IVG, IT, hypocotyl and photosynthetic pigments did not present significant results when compared to the control group. Our data indicates a warning sign for the polyvinylpyrrolidone disposal, and highlights the need of further research regarding its toxicity.