Physiological and phytosanitary potential of cucumber seeds

Abstract

Cucumber is a very important crop produced and consumed in Brazil. Its seeds have high commercial value and deserve special attention due to their physiological and sanitary quality. Therefore, studies aiming at determining seed vigor should be intensified, especially because the germination test used seed quality assessing often shows no correlation with field emergence. The present study was carried out to evaluate the physiological and sanitary qualities of cucumber seed lots. The study was conducted at the Laboratory of Seed Analysis and at the greenhouse of the Department of Plant Science, at the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel). Four lots of cucumber seeds, cultivar 'Aodai', were tested for the following features: germination, first count, accelerated ageing, electrical conductivity, cold test, sanitary condition, and transplant emergence. The experimental design was completely randomized with four replicates. Means were compared by Tukey test at an overall probability of 5%. The accelerated ageing test showed efficiency to evaluate the physiological quality of cucumber seeds. However, the cold test, with evaluations at 3 and 5 days, proved to be the most efficient for distinguishing differences in vigor levels between the seed lots. The incidences of fungi associated with seeds of cucumber do not affect the physiological quality of the lots.