Soybean sowing under low water availability conditions: impacts of seed treatment and soil management

Abstract:

The aim of this work was to evaluate the impact of soybean sowing in soil with low water availability, under two management systems, using seeds with and without chemical treatment, on the physiological quality of seeds and seedling emergence. For this, two experiments were set up, one under no-tillage system (NTS) and the other under conventional tillage system (CTS), in a randomized block design, both in a 2x6 factorial scheme, with two seed treatment conditions (with and without) and six periods of seed permanence in the soil (0, 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 h), with four replications. Germination, vigor, percentage of abnormal seedlings and percentage of dead seeds were evaluated. Seed treatment made it possible to maintain germination at acceptable levels for up to five days of permanence of the seeds in the soil, even in CTS. Sowing in soils with low water availability can lead to reductions of 0.2 and 0.5 percentage points per hour of exposure to dry soil in germination and vigor of soybean seeds, respectively.

Index terms:
no-tillage; plant emergence; seedling protection; seed vigor; soil moisture