Abstract
The current system of seeds production is highly mechanized and these operations can contribute to losses in quality due the incidence of mechanical damages. The objective in this work was to study the effect of the chemical treatment and the storage on quality of maize seeds with mechanical damages. The seeds used were individually analyzed through X-ray test for the obtainment of three lots; 1-seeds without separation, 2-seeds without mechanical damages and 3-seeds with mechanical damages. The lots were evaluated according the physiological quality, sanity and enzymatic analyzes before and after the chemical treatment with the insecticide Maxim Advanced® and the fungicide Cruiser® and also after 90 days of storage. The chemical treatment of maize seeds is efficient in the control of pathogens, like Fusarium sp. The performance of seeds with internal and external damages can be maintained for 90 days when treated with fungicides and insecticides and stored in environment conditions. The isoenzymatic patterns of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), confirmed the higher deterioration of non-treated seeds during the storage. The mechanical damages found in seeds contribute to the reduction of viability and vigor of maize seeds.
Highlights
In the process of maize seeds production, the mechanical damages have been revealed as one of the major problems compromising the physiological quality and sanity of seeds
With aid of the stainer fast green, was possible to identify 21% to 26% of seeds with damage, did not show to be efficient by the fact of the identified seeds not necessarily contained damages when correlated to the observations by the x-ray test
It can be observed that there was increase in the electric conductivity in lot 3 at 90 days, when compared to other lots in this same period, demonstrating the negative effect of storage and possibly the chemical treatment during storage on damaged seeds. This result is in agreement with the results found by Fessel et al (2003), where they analyzed the physiological, physical and sanitary quality of maize seeds and verified that the occurrence of mechanical damages promoted the increase in the lixiviation of exudates culminating in higher electric conductivity and reduction of vigor
Summary
In the process of maize seeds production, the mechanical damages have been revealed as one of the major problems compromising the physiological quality and sanity of seeds. According Teixeira et al (2002), during the threshing, processing and sowing, the maize seeds are submitted to impacts causing immediate or latent damages, contributing to the reduction of physiological and physical qualities of lots. In order to preserve the quality of maize seeds and to contribute with the increase of investment return of culture, there is the necessity of mechanical damages reduction (Marchi et al, 2006). Many works were realized using this procedure in order to evaluate the physiological quality of maize seeds analyzing the intern structures as well as the presence of mechanical damages (Cícero & Banzatto Júnior, 2003; Vaz Mondo & Cícero, 2005; Gomes Junior & Cícero, 2012). Many are the factors that influence the conservation of viability and vigor of seeds during the storage, between them, the initial conditions of seeds, climatic conditions during the maturation, conditions of drying, relative air humidity, temperature of storage, action of fungi and insects and the duration of the storage period
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