Physiological Quality Of Wheat Seeds As A Function Of Storage Time

Wheat is one of the main winter cereal crops produced in Brazil, with great socio-economic importance to meet both domestic and global demand.It is also an important crop in essential crop rotation systems under conservation tillage systems.However, due to the need to store seeds for future sowing, their quality may decline over time, causing losses to producers.Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the quality of wheat seeds subjected to different storage periods of 24 and 12 months.The evaluation standards followed the RAS (Rules for Seed Analysis) and relevant scientific literature.The parameters evaluated were water content (WC), germination (G%), first count (FC), emergence speed index (ESI), field emergence (FE), electrical conductivity (EC), tetrazolium test (TZ), and accelerated aging (AA).For the analysis of ESI and EC, a randomized block design (RBD) was used, while for the other analyses a completely randomized design (CRD) was adopted, comprising six treatments with four replications.A reduction in physiological potential was observed with increasing storage time of wheat seeds.In addition, different responses were noted among genotypes regardless of the storage period, with one genotype showing a higher rate of deterioration.