Evaluación del porcentaje de germinación de cinco cultivares de café (coffea arabica l.) empleando cuatro tratamientos en vivero

Abstract

In general, coffee is considered to be one of the most valuable raw materials in the world. The main producing countries are: Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia. One of the most important species is Coffea arabica L. which stands out for its organoleptic characteristics and cup quality. In Ecuador it is produced in 23 of the 24 provinces thanks to the great variety of ecosystems it possesses. The main producing provinces are: Manabí, Los Ríos, Loja, Sucumbíos and El Oro. For the adequate management of this crop one should start from the establishment in the nursery. The germination of the seed varies depending on the variety and the care that is given to it, guaranteeing vigorous plants free of plagues and diseases to be taken to the definitive establishment. The objective of the research is to determine the most efficient treatment to achieve the highest percentage of germination, growth, and development of the coffee seedlings in the nursery. It was developed in the experimental area of the Santa Inés farm, belonging to the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the Technical University of Machala, located at km 5.5 of the Machala- Pasaje road. Five coffee cultivars were planted: Brazil, Caturra, Amarillo, Sarchimor and Maragogipe using four treatments: chemical (application of gibberellic acid - NewGibb 10 SP), physical (seed submerged in water for 24 hours), edaphic (application of biochar directly to the germination beds) and mechanical (extraction of the endocarp or parchment from the seed). The variables evaluated were: length of the seed, width of the seed, days to germination, percentage of germination, days to phosphorite, days to chapolas, length of the root to the transplant to covers, height of the plant, number of leaves, fresh weight of the plant and dry weight of the plant. For the development of the research it was built 60 germinating beds of 1 m long by 0.50 m wide and 0.30 m deep, where the cultivars were distributed together with the treatments and the three repetitions, and then in chapolas state to be transplanted to polyethylene covers of 21 x 12 cm. With the obtained data, there were carried out tests of inter-subjects effects in IBM SPSS STATICS 22 software, where it was analyzed the intersection between both factors, where there are significant differences in all the evaluated variables. The treatments used showed significant differences, the T1 delayed the germination of seeds up to 39 days with 55.56% and showed less development of seedlings in nursery conditions. The T2 accelerated the germination of seeds from 30 days with 87.33% and in terms of development of seedlings was very good. The T3, although it delayed a little germination from 32 days with 87.11%, showed excellent development, good height and vigor of the plants. Finally, T4 accelerated the germination from 28 days with 87.67%, being the treatment that made the coffee seeds germinate faster, however, it presented slow development of the seedlings. It has been demonstrated that not all the cultivars used react in the same way when exposed to different treatments in the nursery.