Cinética das propriedades mecânicas durante a maturação dos frutos e avaliação da qualidade fisiológica das sementes de abóbora "Jacarezinho".

Abstract

The pumpkin crop is generally a good deal for many producers who are located in the semiarid, mainly in the region of the San Francisco. The pumpkin 'Jacarezinho' is one o f the vegetables of great importance in northeastem Brazil, especially for its commercial value. It is known that the physiological seed quality is of vital importance in order to obtain success in a farming and pumpkin seeds do not escape this reality. Knowledge o f the maturity o f fruits and seeds during the maturation process is of interest to producers because it helps in quality control. Thus the objectives of this study: to evaluate the kinetics of fruit maturation and quality of seeds Pumpkin 'Jacarezinho' under different harvest times, and relate them to physical and physiological changes that occur simultaneously during the ripening and storage conditions of the semiarid northeast. The study was conducted in an experimental area of irrigated horticultura from the Department of Agronomy, State University of Bahia, in the Seed Laboratory of "Embrapa" semiarid in Petrolina - PE and Materials Testing Laboratory of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University o f the San Francisco in Juazeiro - BA. In a given area was grown pumpkin seeds variety 'Jacarezinho' for its fruits being harvested at certain times during the period December 2010 to March 2011. After harvesting, the fruits passed through the analysis of compression tests with subsequent extraction of the seeds, to determine the moisture content and the tests of germination and vigor. Seeds reached physiological maturity at the time of 50 to 60 days after anthesis by setting the time of fruit harvest for seed production. For the analysis of research on mechanical behavior of the fruit the result shows that with increasing aging time is increased stiffness of the fruit with a consequent increase o f the maximum load to achieve greater deformation. And the longer advisable to harvest and transport was between 30 to 40 days after anthesis to fruit commercialization. And finally, with the seed storage was found that the highest germination values were obtained in plastic packaging for the twelve months and paper for the three months storage of cucurbit.