Invigoration of crystal sweet corn seeds by hydropriming

• DOI: 10.22533/at.ed.9732112216096

• Palavras-chave: horticulture; deterioration; hydration; oxygen; booth; uniformity.

• Keywords: horticulture; deterioration; hydration; oxygen; booth; uniformity.

• Abstract:

  Sweet corn is a vegetable that belongs to the special corn category. It is used exclusively in human food and differs from common green corn because it contains higher sugar content and lower starch content in its grains. The low availability of cultivars with desirable agronomic characteristics has been an obstacle to the expansion of the crop production in the country. Sweet corn seeds have germination problems and low vigor, which makes it difficult to establish the culture in the field. Hydropriming is a technique of physiological conditioning of seeds that consists of soaking seeds in water for certain periods of time, being a low-cost treatment that has shown to be very promising in the invigoration of low vigor seeds. The present work aimed to evaluate the effects of hydropriming in different aeration treatments and soaking periods on the physiological quality of crystal sweet corn seeds. The parameters of germination, seedling and radicle length, seedling dry matter and electrical conductivity were evaluated in view of the effects of aeration treatments by atmospheric air, concentrated oxygen, without aeration at different imbibition periods of 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes, as well as the interactions between these treatments. According to the results obtained, the hydropriming treatment interacting with the atmospheric air aeration treatment provided an invigoration of the physiological quality of crystal sweet corn seeds.