Length of soybean and corn seedlings influenced by seed vigor and size

Resumo

This work had as objective to adjust the methodology of the seedling length test for soybean and maize seeds, depending on the level of vigor and size of the seed.Therefore, it was used soybean seeds of cultivar 5855 RSF IPRO (BMX ELITE) andhybrid maize seeds of the cultivar Fórmula Viptera , classified in two sizes of sieve and two levels of vigor for soybean and three levels for maize.A completely randomized design with four replications was adopted.Germination, first germination counting, emergence in seedbed, emergence velocity index, emergence velocity, shoot, root and total length (evaluated every 12 hours), shoot, root and total dry mass were evaluated.The classification of soybean seeds by size exerts a direct influence on seed germination and vigor, and consequently on seedling length, where seeds with high vigor and of the 6.50 mm sieve presented higher rates of length.Root and total length of maize seedlings are only affected by factors of vigor and seed size acting alone.The best time to be carried out the evaluation of seedlings length in soybean seeds is 120 hours, and in corn is 96 hours.