Costa, Thercio Henrique de CarvalhoCarneiro, Jordan Nelson Soares2019-12-132021-10-052019-12-132021-10-052019-12-06CARNEIRO, J. N. S. Emprego do Plasma Gerado por Descarga em Barreira Dielétrica na Modificação Superficial de Sementes de Adenanthera pavonina L. Trabalho de conclusão de curso (Graduação) - Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Rio Grande do Norte, p. 37, 2019.https://repositorio.ufrn.br/handle/123456789/43012Adenanthera pavonina L. also known as tento-carolina is a tree species native to India and Malaysia, belonging to the family Leguminosae-mimosoideae. In Brazil, it was introduced many years ago as an ornamental tree, for urban afforestation, landscaping and for good quality wood. However, its potentialities of use have been limited due to the occurrence of integumentary dormancy in its seeds, requiring the application of a pre-germinative treatment to overcome it. Therefore, the present work aimed to investigate the effects of cold plasma at atmospheric pressure generated by Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) on the superficial modification of Adenanthera pavonina L. seeds and its consequences on their dormancy break. For this, experiments were carried out in a completely randomized design with 4 replications of 25 seeds: untreated (control), scarified (with sandpaper) and treated with DBD plasma (Ar gas) for 3 and 5 minutes, operating at a tension of 30,4 kV and 926 Hz frequency. The number of emerged seedlings was counted daily for 7 days after installation. And as a criterion, we considered emerged seedlings that showed protrusion of the primary root above 2 mm. During the germination tests, the following variables were also evaluated: germination percentage and germination speed index and data submitted to statistical analysis (arithmetic mean and standard deviation). In addition, the effects of plasma on seed surface hydrophilicity were investigated by the wettability test; water absorption by seeds through the soaking curve and modification of the morphology of their seed surface by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The results obtained in this work showed that DBD plasma improved the surface hydrophilicity of Adenanthera pavonina L. seeds, as well as modified its surface morphology, making it rougher and with the presence of several microperforations distributed over its entire surface. However, such changes were not sufficient to overcome the impermeability of the integument and, consequently, increase the water absorption by the seeds for none of the radiation times employed. Nevertheless, the results show that DBD plasma is a promising technology to promote superficial changes in Adenanthera pavonina L. seeds and that its benefits on germination need to be further studied.Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Brazilhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/br/Tento-carolina. Dormência tegumentar. Plasma em sementes.Tento-carolina. Dormacy tegumentary. Plasma in seeds.bachelorThesis