Abstract
With the aim of studying the relationship between the physiological quality of soybean seeds submitted to three harvest times and seedling emergence in the field, seeds of cultivars UFV-16, Splendor, Vencedora, Confiança, UFV-18, UFV-TN 105, Garantia and Celeste were harvested at stages R8, R8+15 and R8+30 days. The following tests were performed: accelerated aging, electrical conductivity, emergence in sand, emergence speed index and seedling emergence in the field. Germination and vigor were reduced in seeds harvested at 30 days after stage R8 in all the tests, except for the accelerated aging test, which showed a decline in vigor seeds harvested with a delay of 15 days. Seeds of cultivars UFV-16, Confiança and Garantia showed lower physiological quality in most tests, while the seeds of cultivar Celeste had higher physiological quality than the others. There was similarity between the test results of seed quality and seedling emergence in the field.
Highlights
Maximum potential for germination and seed vigor occurs during physiological maturity
The average percentage of seed germination in the second count was virtually the same observed at the first count. This behavior can be explained by the high incidence of fungi on seeds, favoring the reduction of germination at the second count. This is a common occurrence of fungi on seeds resulting from harvesting delay, and the fungi Fusarium spp. and Phomopsis spp. are those that most affect the results of the germination test (Henning, 2005)
The results show that the harvesting delay of 30 days after stage R8 significantly reduced seed germination, confirming the results found by Braccini et al (2000)
Summary
Maximum potential for germination and seed vigor occurs during physiological maturity. Several studies show that delaying the harvest from stage R8 can impair germination and vigor of soybean seeds. The intensity of this effect depends on the residence time of seeds in the field, their genotype and climatic conditions such as temperature and precipitation. Harvesting delay can be stressful to seeds, which may have different responses depending on their genotype. This procedure can be used with the objective of selecting soybean genotypes for high quality seeds (França-Neto et al, 1994; Lima et al, 2007)
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