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Fruit and seed morphology and in vitro seed germination of Mosiera bullata, an endemic endangered Cuban species

Abstract:

Mosiera bullata (Britton & P. Wilson) is a plant species belonging to the Myrtaceae family, endemic to the serpentine soils of the central region of Cuba. This species is in danger of extinction. Its ability to hyperaccumulate metals helps it tolerate nickel in this soil. In addition, the leaf extracts show significant antimicrobial activities against plant pathogens. The properties and benefits of M. bullata must be maintained through a combination of ex situ and in situ conservation measures. The objective of this study was to determine the morpho-physiological characteristics of M. bullata fruits and seeds and to evaluate the in vitro germination of seeds under controlled humidity, photoperiod, photosynthetic photon flux density, and temperature in a germination chamber. The effect of time for seed disinfection (10, 20, and 30 min) with 2% (w/v) sodium hypochlorite was studied. In addition, the effect of lighting and the content of nitrate salts in the culture medium MS on seed germination was determined. Fruits, seeds and embryos of M. bullata showed representative characteristics of the genus Mosiera Small. Our results showed percentage of seed viability over 85 and 83% of seed germination. Sodium hypochlorite at a concentration of 2% (w/v) for 20 min under dark conditions showed the best disinfection effect and seed germination. Reducing the nitrate content in the medium MS by half increased the germination percentage. With the present study, it was possible to describe the fruit and seed morphology of M. bullata, and for the first time, an efficient method for in vitro propagation of M. bullata seeds was developed.