Physical and physiological quality of yerba mate seeds

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the quality of yerba mate seeds from four mother plants and to relate morphophysiological variables with the position of the treetop in which the fruits were collected in a mother plant. The following were evaluated: water content; a thousand-seed weight; biometrics (length and thickness); evaluation of the percentage of empty, predated, deteriorated seeds, with and without visible embryo; and viability through the tetrazolium test. For the conditions of this study, seeds collected from different mother plants show differences in water content, a thousand-seed weight and in biometrics. They have a high percentage of not full seeds, most of which are deteriorated, and, to a lesser extent, empty and predated. Seeds collected in different quadrants do not show differences for water content, a thousand-seed weight, percentage of empty and visible embryo. In the northwest quadrant the seeds had the shortest length and in the northeast quadrant the greatest thickness, the lowest percentage of deteriorated seeds and the highest presence of seeds without visible embryo. In the quadrant facing southeast, they presented the highest mean of viability.