Germinación de semillas de Joyapa (Macleania rupestris) luego de su almacenamiento por 2, 4 y 6 semanas a diferentes temperaturas y estados de madurez

Abstract

Macleania rupestris is an undomesticated fruit shrub from the Ericaceae family. It inhabits the Andean paramo and subparamo ecosystems and is considered important for feeding both humans and animals. Its small seed complicates its propagation, and there is insufficient information regarding the ex situ storage of its germplasm. The objective of the study was to evaluate the germination of M. rupestris seeds after storage for 2, 4, and 6 weeks at different temperatures (room temperature, -18°C, 4°C) in three maturity stages (immature, semimature, mature). Three separate experiments were conducted, one for each maturity stage. Additionally, it is important to consider the fruit's maturity stage and storage time to select the appropriate conservation method. The highest germination percentages were obtained from semi-mature seeds prior to storage, while after storage, higher germination rates were observed in the immature stage. For the immature stage, regardless of the storage temperature, seeds stored for 4 weeks showed higher germination rates as there were no statistically significant differences. The semi-mature seeds stored for 4 weeks had statistically significant differences at -18°C (64.67%) and 4°C (63.82%) for 6 weeks. The seeds from mature fruits stored for 6 weeks at -18°C exhibited higher germination (66.03%), although this was not significantly different from the percentage achieved at 4°C. The seeds of M. rupestris could be conserved considering that viability may decrease over time.