Sodium hypochlorite for sarcotesta remotion from papaya seeds: anatomical studies

Abstract

Although papaya world production is high, the integument of papaya seeds, called sarcotesta, is an obstacle in the seedling production process. The aim of this work was to develop techniques to facilitate the removal of papaya seed sarcotesta for seedlings production. For that, two assays were developed. For the first one, the seeds were immersed in different concentrations of active chlorine (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8%) at ratio 600:200 seeds/mL of solution, respectively, besides the study of intact seeds and seeds subjected to the sieve method + stagnant water. For the second one, the seeds were immersed in active chlorine 2% in different ratios (10: 200; 200: 200; 400: 200 and 600: 200), and the concentration of 0% at ratio 10:200 and the sieve method + stagnant water. The effect of the treatments was evaluated by germination test and scanning electron microscopy. Sodium hypochlorite did not remove completely sarcotesta, but damaged it. In ratio 10:200 in a concentration of 2% of active chlorine for 24 hours, the embryo and the endosperm were not affected, resulting in 80% of germination, which can be an alternative to sarcotesta manual removal.