Evaluación cuantitativa de la germinación de Quercus variabilis Blume en tres tamaños de semilla

Quercus variabilis is a species with a wide distribution in East Asia and its forests play an important role in the conservation and improvement of water and soil. However, ecological problems (loss of diversity and reduction of natural areas), and climate change and soil erosion, have damaged their populations. Knowing the germination process of the species help to increase the survival of the seedlings in reforestation projects. To determine six germination parameters of Q. variabilis, information from three seed sizes was used (small: 2.88 ± 0.09 g, medium: 4.18 ± 0.10 g and large: 5.52 ± 0.27 g), collected from 20 trees in Jiaozuo, Henan province, China, in 2013. The analysis determined that the large and medium seeds presented a high percentage of final germination (FG=96 and 93 %, respectively) but without significant deference (ρ=0.9983), shorter average germination time (AGT=20 days) and higher index of germination rate (GRI=5.4 and 5.1 % day-1, respectively) than small seeds (FG = 39 %, AGT = 24 days, GRI = 1.8 % day-1). Likewise, large and medium seeds had higher values of mean germination rate (MGR=0.05 day-1) and germination speed coefficient (GSC=5.0 and 4.9 %) than small seeds (MGR=0.04 day-1 and GSC=4.2 %). Results suggested that the germination parameters vary with the size of the seed, a fact that must be taken into account during the seedling production at the nursery.