Potencial fisiológico e tamanho de sementes de trigo

Abstract

Wheat production in Brazil is mostly concentrated in the southern region, however, there is still a need to import wheat to meet the national demand. One of the main factors that contribute to obtaining high crop yields is the use of quality seeds, and the classification of seeds by size can contribute to greater uniformity in the development of the stand in the field. The aim of this work was to evaluate the influence of seed size on physiological quality in different wheat cultivars. Eleven wheat cultivars were classified into three sizes: small, medium, and large. Subsequently, the characterization of treatments was carried out by moisture tests, weight of a thousand seeds and sanity test. The physiological quality evaluation was carried out by the first count test, germination, emergence, emergence speed index, accelerated aging, electrical conductivity, root and shoot dry mass, root and shoot length, total length and part aerial/root ratio. There was variation in the results of the vigor tests for the different treatments. Cultivar C3 showed inferior performance compared to the others and showed differences in vigor between sizes for most tests. The dry mass of shoots and roots was higher in seedlings originating from larger seeds for all cultivars. Large seeds had a greater relationship with the dry mass and seedling length tests, while medium seeds had a greater relationship with the germination test, first count, emergence, emergence speed index. It can be concluded that the physiological quality of wheat seeds is affected by the size, wheat seed size influences root and shoot dry mass, and seeds of the same size respond similarly to physiological tests.