Abstract
The assessment of the germination test in wheat seeds varies from 4 to 15 days, because the species normally presents dormancy in freshly harvested seeds. The tetrazolium test can characterize seed viability in less than 24 hours including lots with dormancy seeds. The objective of this study was to develop a practical and efficient procedure for evaluating the viability of wheat seeds using the tetrazolium test. Five seed lots of the BRS 208 cultivar were used, where the following were tested: a) pre-conditioning between moist paper towels or direct immersion in water for 18 hours, at 20 °C; b) longitudinal section of the embryo and the endosperm; c) coloration on paper or by immersion for 2 and 3 hours, at 30 and 40 °C; and d) concentrations of tetrazolium solution at 0.075%, 0.1%, 0.5% and 1.0%. The tetrazolium test may be efficiently used to evaluate wheat seed viability by pre-conditioning the seeds between paper towels (18 hours, at 20 °C) and adopting the following combinations of preparation and coloration: coloration of both halves of the seed on paper (2 hours, at 30 °C), in a 1.0% tetrazolium solution; or coloration of one half of the seed by immersion (3 hours, at 30 °C), in a 0.1% tetrazolium solution; or coloration of one half of the seed by immersion (2 hours, at 40 °C), in a 0.075% tetrazolium solution. This latter procedure is recommended for identifying and discarding lots with lower viability.
Highlights
Wheat is one of the most important cereals grown in the world (Fourar-Belaifa et al, 2011), with China leading the ranking of producers
Germination: four subsamples of 50 seeds were taken for each repetition, distributed on a moistened roll paper towel with a amount of water equivalent to 2.5 times the substrate weight and kept in a germinator at
The results of the germination test indicated that lot 1 had the highest viability and lots 4 and 5 had low viability, while lots 2 and 3 had intermediate results (Table 1)
Summary
Wheat is one of the most important cereals grown in the world (Fourar-Belaifa et al, 2011), with China leading the ranking of producers. Laboratories are able to evaluate wheat seed viability with the germination test, which is widely used in the commercial sector and provides a reliable result. This test can take up to 15 days for recently harvested wheat seeds (Brasil, 2009), which normally show dormancy (Andreoli et al, 2006). Such dormancy avoids seed germination during the pre-harvest stage (germination on the ear), which can cause significant losses to farmers. In order to make a rapid decision on the destination of lots, it is necessary to have a test, which can evaluate seed viability soon after harvest
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