Abstract

The use of high quality seeds is of utmost importance and is intimately related to seed vigor. The objective of this study was to stablish a novel methodology for evaluating the vigor of pearl millet seeds. The experiment was performed at the Federal University of Pelotas, using 5 seed lots of pearl millet cv. BRS1501. The research was carried out in two stages: first, seed lots were characterized (physiological quality tests); second, the initial emergence and development of pearl millet seedlings was evaluated, testing four different substrates and five sowing depths in the emergence test. The experimental set up consisted of a completely randomized design with four replicates. Means were compared by the Scott-Knott test at the 5% probability level. The substrates sand and carbonized rice husk, at 1.0 cm depth, satisfactorily stratified seed lots. These methodologies correlated with the speed of emergency index and seedling emergency. Thus, the study identified an innovative method for testing vigor in pearl millet seeds.

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