Avaliação do potencial fisiológico pelo uso do teste de envelhecimento acelerado com solução salina (NaCl) em sementes de agrião da terra (Barbarea verna)

Abstract

The watercress (Barbarea verna) is a vegetable consumed in all regions of Brazil, with great nutritional and medicinal value, the propagation of which is mainly by seeds, therefore, research is necessary in order to ascertain its quality. This is a fundamental characteristic for the production of seedlings with a desirable pattern. Therefore, the objective of the present work was to determine the efficiency of the accelerated aging test with saturated NaCl solution for the evaluation of the vigor of B. verna seeds. The test was conducted in two stages, having been evaluated in experiment 1: initial physiological potential, germination test, together with first seedling count, germination speed index and seedling length. Experiment 2 was evaluated: accelerated aging with NaCl solution at 41ºC for 24, 48 and 72h, at 76% RH. Five seed lots were used, with four replications of 50 units; the data were subjected to the Tukey test (5%). The use of the saturated solution decreases the water absorption by the seeds of B. verna, resulting in less variation in the water content between the studied lots. Accelerated aging at 41 ºC over a 24-hour period is the most promising method for assessing the vigor of these seeds.