Germinación de Trichloris crinita y Digitaria eriantha en condiciones de estrés abiotico Germination of Trichloris crinita and Digitaria eriantha under abiotic stress conditions

The objective of this work was to determine the effect of different temperatures and osmotic potentials (OP) on the germination of seeds from Digitaria eriantha Steudel subsp. eriantha cv. Sudafricana and Trichloris crinita. The seeds were put to germinate on Petri dishes at temperatures of 17o, 25o, 30o and 35oC and in solutions of PEG6000, in order to simulate osmotic potentials: 0 (control, distilled water); -0,5; -1 and -1,5 MPa. The germination percentage (GP) was recorded. Both species showed the highest GP in the range 25 and 30oC; at 17oC the GP was significantly lower after 14 days. In T. crinita the GP significantly decreased with potentials of -1 and -1,5 Mpa in all the temperatures; besides, with -1,5 Mpa at 17o and 35oC the seeds did not germinate. The GP of the D. eriantha seeds decreased with potentials of -0,5 and -1,5 Mpa at 17o and 35oC, and it also decreased at 25oC but with potentials of -1 Mpa and -1,5 Mpa. It is concluded that 25-30oC was optimum for the germination of T. crinita and D. eriantha, which could have been related to the environmental conditions characteristics of the region where they grow. T. crinita tolerated up to -0,5 Mpa of potential, while D. eriantha tolerated -1 Mpa.