Caracterização ecofisiológica de sementes de espécies lenhosas da Caatinga

Dormancy is an inherent property of the seeds that define the environmental conditions in which they are able to germinate and their presence is an adaptive trait common in species inhabiting semiarid regions. Moreover, the ability of seedling establishment in these environments has been related to the size, strength and chemical characteristics of the seeds. This study investigated patterns of dormancy and germination speed in tree species of the Caatinga, exploring how the seed size influence the processes of germination, seedling size and biomass allocation. In addition, we aim to investigate the chemical characteristics of the reserves, to verify a possible relationship between nutritional content and the process of seed germination. Therefore, seeds were collected from ten species of woody Caatinga for tests of breaking dormancy, germination and biochemical characterization. Overall, the results show that the scarification treatments mechanical and chemical, and thermal shock influenced the percentage and speed of germination in 50 % of the species, suggesting that they have some level of physical dormancy in the seeds. Biochemical characterization showed the existence of large amounts of carbohydrates in the seeds of all species, low proportion of protein and low amounts of neutral lipids. Using linear regression, we demonstrated the existence of a significant relationship between seed size and the ratio of root/shoot where the largest seeds invested a greater amount of resources for shoot growth. The relationship between germination speed and non-reducing sugar content was also significant, so these compounds is related to the maintenance of physiological seed quality. These results confirm some relationships discussed in the literature for cultivated species, but can be applied to the species native to the Caatinga

Análises bromatológicas e fitoquímicas de frutos de Licania tomentosa (Benth) FRITSCH

This study conducted chemical analyzes of the fruits of Licania tomentosa Benth belonging to the Chrysobalanaceae family, order and superorder Rosiflorae Rosales. Samples were collected in February 2011 in the city of Natal - RN. The fruits were separated into peel, pulp and seed, and the samples were analyzed on moisture and ash by thermogravimetric methods, reducing and total sugars, lipids by Soxhlet extraction, minerals by ICP / OES and other analyzes by physical measurements of the fruit. The fruits for the analysis of determination of flavonoids and phenolic compounds were dried at 40 ° C and ground. For the analyzes to determine the content of phenolics and flavonols was used spectroscopy in the visible region, and also performed the characterization of ethanol extracts by high performance liquid chromatography and test for antioxidant activity hydroethanolic extracts. The results obtained are about 83.9% of the fruits have a length between 4.0 to 6.0 cm with respect to the diameter of the fruit about 97.4% of the fruits have a diameter between 2.0 - 4, 0 cm, mean weight of 36.14 g (7.86), the bark showed 60.5 (1.5)% relative humidity, the flesh 72.3 (0.9) and 44.4 seeds (0.4 )%, the bark showed 0.22 (0.00)% ash, the pulp 1.41 (0.01)% and the seed 1.18 (0.01)%, the bark showed 3.73 (0, 09) mg lipids / 100 g sample of the pulp 0.40 (0.04) and the seed 0.05 (0.00). With respect to reducing sugars and total gave the results, 16.23 (0.23) g/100g and 20.70 (0.24) g/100g. The fruit is presented with a good source of nutrients especially carbohydrates and lipids. The analysis for determining the antioxidant activity tests were performed reducing power and antioxidant capacity, the antioxidant capacity of hydroethanolic extracts of peel and pulp showed similar results, with higher concentrations however hydroethanolic bark extract. Regarding the content of phenolics and flavonoids hidroetanílico bark extract showed higher concentration values. The characterization of the extracts by high performance liquid chromatography identified the following compounds by retention time indicated by the race of the standards: galic acid, kaempferol and kaempferol derivatives. Considering the results of the fruit Licania tomentosa Benth may be an alternative food by analysis of their nutritional content and has substances with antioxidant action