Seed germination and dispersion of Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit in the western Region of Parana State

Abstract

The experiment objective was to quantify seed rain distance and germination from pure leucaena stands located on the western region of Parana state. Seed traps were placed up to 30 meters externally and 15 meters internally from the leucaena boundaries. Seeds were gathered from the collectors weekly for 53 consecutive weeks. Leucaena seeds were collected during all the study. The highest percentage of leucaena seeds 97.58% and 93.18% from stand 1 and 2, respectively was collected from seed traps 10 meters outside the stands while seed dispersed inside the stand was uniform among the tested distances. Seed germination under laboratory conditions showed seasonal effect with higher values (from 85% to 95%) for seed collected during the summer, and lowest for those collected during fall (30%) and winter (24%) seasons.