Accelerated Aging Test in Thyme Seeds (Thymus vulgaris L.)

Flávia Mendes Dos Santos Lourenço,Walmor Moya Peres,Jéssica Alves De Oliveira,Marco Eustáquio De Sá,Vinícius Martins Silva,Grace Queiroz David,Juliana Trindade Martins,Oscar Mitsuo Yamashita,Renan Furquim Da Silva,Mayara Favero Cotrim

doi:10.5296/jas.v9i1.17761

Abstract

Evaluating seed quality with precision and accuracy is one of the priorities for obtaining high quality material. This study aimed to evaluate whether the variations in the performance of the accelerated aging test, in terms of exposure time and temperature, in the traditional form or in saline solution, would result in an efficient combination to evaluate the physiological quality of thyme seeds (Thymus vulgaris L.). The seeds were submitted to the tests of total germination, germination speed index, first germination count, seedlings emergence, seedling length, seedling dry mass, cold test, electrical conductivity, variations in the conduction of the accelerated aging test and the water content of the seeds was performed after each accelerated aging period. The treatments were the combination of temperatures (36, 38, 40 and 42 ºC), exposure time (24, 36, 48 and 72 hours) and two procedures (traditional and saline), with four replications for each batch. Traditional accelerated aging test at 42 ºC and 24 hours of exposure time, and saline solution accelerated aging test at 38 ºC and 24 hours of exposure time showed sensibility to evaluate physiological potential for thyme seed. For both saline solution and traditional accelerated aging test, the exposition time of 24 hours was efficient to evaluate physiological potential of thyme seeds.

Highlights

The thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) is a Lamiaceae plant, native from Western Mediterranean region of Europe, is profusely found throughout southern France, Portugal, Spain and Italy (Digest, 1999)
This study aimed to evaluate whether the variations in the performance of the accelerated aging test, in terms of exposure time and temperature, in the traditional form or in saline solution, would result in an efficient combination to evaluate the physiological quality of thyme seeds (Thymus vulgaris L.)
This study aimed to evaluate the variations in accelerated aging test, in terms of time and temperature exposure involved in test methodology, realized in traditional form or in saline solution, to determine in an efficient combination to evaluate physiological seed quality of thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.)

Summary

Introduction

The thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) is a Lamiaceae plant, native from Western Mediterranean region of Europe, is profusely found throughout southern France, Portugal, Spain and Italy (Digest, 1999). It could be used as a food condiment, as a spice (Miranda et al, 2015). The secondary metabolites of these plants, mainly the essential oils, have been studied mostly to develop alternative methods to control crop pests, diseases and weeds (Saito, 2004). There is a lack of studies regarding physiological properties of thyme seeds, presenting few informations on their physiological quality. Considering that, reducing the time to evaluate physiological seed quality is a priority. Vigor tests has been considered a tool increasingly used by seed companies to determinate the physiological potential of seeds (Silva et al, 2010)

Objectives

Methods

Results