Effect of Lactoferments on Seed Germination and Development of Coffea Arabica L. Seedlings

Abstract

The research was carried out in a plants nursery at the Jibacoa Agro-Forestry Experimental Station. The objective was to evaluate the lactoferments effect, in this case, of the IHPLUS® bioproduct on seed germination and the development of coffee seedlings. A first experiment was in germinators where the viability and mean germination time of two variants were evaluated: seeds soaked for 24 hours [1) in water, 2) in IHPLUS at 6 %]. In a second experiment, the development of the seedlings was studied in three treatments: 1) seeds soaked in water alone without foliar spraying of the IHPLUS (control), 2) seeds soaked in water alone plus foliar spraying at 2 % every 15 days from the first pair of leaves until 90 % of the seedlings had 6 pairs of leaves, at which point their height, stem diameter, and dry mass and the foliar area were measured. The viability and the mean germination time of the seeds tended to improve when they were soaked in IHPLUS at 6 %. The seeds soaked in IHPLUS plus the foliar spraying of this lactoferment favored the best development of the seedlings with an increase in height, stem diameter, total dry mass and leaf area of 20 %, 13 %, 29 % and 30 % respectively, compared to the control.