Eletrical conductivity test to evaluate the physiological quality of tobacco seeds

Abstract

The electrical conductivity test has been used to evaluate the physiological potential of seeds for being a fast, reliable and of easy execution test, to complement informations provided by the germination test. It is necessary the adequacy of this test for each specie in particular. To investigate the possibility of use of the electrical conductivity test to evaluate the physiological quality of tobacco seeds, were used four lots form cultivar CSC 231 and four lots from cultivar CSC 444, which were analyzed separately. Seeds were submitted to periods of (0.5; 1; 2; 4; 6; 8 and 10 hours) of imbibition at 25°C in recipients containing 6 mL of water with 100 and 200 seeds. The conductivity in mass of seeds was determined using the equipment condutivimeter Digimed CD-21, used in the evaluation of conductivity in mass and by the automatic analyzer of seeds SAD 9000-S for the evaluation of the individual conductivity. For tobaco seeds, after six hours of imbibition occurs the stability of leaching curve. The genotype and the initial quality of seeds lots influene on the electrical conductive test for both methods. The use of electrical conductivity test in mass is promissing to be used for tobacco seeds.