Characterization, germination capacity and different pre-sowing on seed germination of Diospyros crassiflora Hiern.

The jet-black to streaked ebony wood produced by the African ebony (Diospyros crassiflora Hiern, Ebenaceae) is exploited in Central and West Africa. A conservation effort is currently underway in Cameroon to propagate the tree through seedlings and cuttings. However, the intermittent availability of its seeds and the problem of viability these seeds. The present study aims was to make a summary study of the fruits and seeds and to evaluate the different parameters of germination, seed conservation of D. crassiflora. The fruit is washed by hand with tap water. For the morphological study of the fruits, 47 fruits were randomly selected from all the fruits collected. The following parameters were recorded: length, diameter, fresh weight and total number of manually extracted seeds per fruit. Subsequently, seeds removed by dissection of the fruits were cleaned to remove the different tissues (mesocarp, endocarp) surrounding the seeds. For seed characterisation, a sample of 105 fresh seeds was taken for size and weight measurements. Seeds that appeared healthy were randomly selected for germination experiments. Periodic germination tests were carried out to test the viability and germination capacity of the seeds as a function of post-harvest shelf life. Seeds were tested immediately after harvest and then on the following days (4, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42 and 49) for 2 months with six replicates of 10 seeds per treatment. The germination rate, duration and germination time were calculated.
- The experiment on the characterization of fruits and seeds lasted 2 days for the measurement of the different parameters
- The germination test experiment lasted 44 days.
- The experiment on the germination capacity of the seeds lasted 56 days.