Qualidade fisiológica de sementes de cevada influenciadas pela época de colheita

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to verify the physiologic quality of seeds of two barley cultivars, in different harvesting times. The experiment was installed in a field of barley production for brewing industry, in Piratini, RS during 2006 growing season. The analyzed seeds were cultivar MN858 and SCARLETT, harvesting starts when panicles were with a moisture around 30% (physiologic maturation) and subsequent harvesting in regular intervals of ten days. To determine the physiologic quality of the seeds the following variables were accomplished: germination; first counting of germinated seeds; tetrazolium; accelerated aging; weight of one thousand seeds; hectoliter weight; lenght of the aerial and root systems; dry and fresh matter of root and aerial systems; and electrical conductivity. The experimental design used was an entirely randomized with four replications and the means were compared by Duncan multiple ranger test (5% of significance). It was concluded that barley cultivars studied, have dormancy just after harvested; with harvesting time delay, cultivar MN858 increases, intensely, dormancy, while, in cultivar SCARLETT, dormancy tends to decrease; seeds of cultivar MN858 presents better physiologic quality when harvested with a moisture of 22,8%, while in cultivar SCARLETT, with a moisture of 18,7%; seeds of both cultivars submitted to heat and water stress has their physiological quality reduced and there was a reduction in the specific gravity of seeds with harvesting time delay.