2012 Volume 50 Issue 3 Pages 209-215
The ornamental banana plant Musa velutina Wendl. & Drude produces many seeds, but they do not germinate. To mass seedling production using seeds, we investigated the effects of seed harvest time on embryo development and seed germinability. Seeds harvested in August contained mushroom-shaped embryos with first and/or second leaf primordia. These seeds required scarification for germination, but not gibberellic acid 3 (GA3) treatment. Seeds harvested in November contained mushroom-shaped embryos with no leaf primordia. These seeds required scarification and 2.9 μM GA3 treatments for germination. Seeds harvested in February contained immature globular embryos and did not germinate after both treatments, but only 30% of the globular and mushroom-shaped embryos germinated in embryo culture. These results indicate that seeds harvested in August contain well-developed embryos that synthesize endogenous GA after imbibition, but are unable to germinate because of the hard seed coat. Seeds harvested in November and February contained immature embryos that do not synthesize endogenous GA after imbibition. Embryos without leaf primordia germinated in vitro, but globular embryos did not. High germination percentage for mass seedling production can be obtained by harvesting seeds from August to November and treating them with scarification and GA3.
