Physiological quality of dual-purpose wheat seeds from plants subjected to artificial defoliation

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Defoliation may play a role in source-sink relationships and reduce the physiological quality of seeds. The main goal of this research was to investigate the effect of successive defoliations on physiological quality of wheat seeds in 'BRS Umbu' and 'BRS Tarumã' cultivars. Two experiments were carried out using a complete randomized design with four replications. Treatments included plants without defoliation (0), and those where 1, 2, and 3 consecutives defoliations were applied. Seeds from each treatment originated from four different lots. Data were analyzed with one-way analysis of variance and means compared by Tukey test at 5% statistical probability. Germination was not affected by defoliation, or the number of cuts, but an effect on vigor was reported.