Eucalyptus essential oils in the quality of castor bean seeds

Abstract

The search for alternatives for the management of plant diseases, such as the use of natural products, has contributed to sustainable agriculture. The objective of the study was evaluated the action of eucalyptus essential oil such as castor bean cultivars seeds. The seeds of the cultivars Energia, Gabriela, Nordestina and Paraguaçu were immersed in the treatments composed of control (untreated seeds); 2.5; 5.0; 7.5; 10 μL mL-1.ml of essential oil of eucalyptus, diluted in sterile distilled water (SDW) containing 0.5% Tween 80® and Dicarboximida fungicide (240 g ai 1 00 kg-1of seeds) per five minutes. A total of 200 seeds were used per treatment, distributed in ten Petry dishes. In the test of germination, was used 200 seeds, with four repetitions of 50 seeds for treatment, distributed in Germitest paper at a temperature 25 ± 2 °C, and photoperiod 12 h. The experimental design was completely randomized in a simple factorial arrangement 5x4 (treatment x cultivated), with four replications. Eucalyptus essential oil concentrations had little influence to germination and reduction of the incidence of different pathogen on beans seeds.