Germination and vigor of pelleted seeds of tomato

Definir o tipo de substrato, a temperatura e a forma de hidratação mais adequados para avaliar a germinação e o vigor de sementes peletizadas de tomate foi o objetivo principal deste trabalho, razão pela qual se realizou o experimento em laboratório, utilizando-se delineamento inteiramente casualizado, com os tratamentos distribuídos em esquema fatorial 3 x 4 x 2, com os fatores temperaturas (25, 30 ºC constantes e 20-30 ºC alternada), substratos (entre papel, sobre papel, entre areia e entre vermiculita) e formas de hidratação (água destilada ou nitrato de potássio) em quatro repetições. Analisaram-se os seguintes parâmetros: porcentagem de germinação, primeira contagem e velocidade de germinação e massa seca de plântulas. Os substratos entre areia e vermiculita umedecidos com água em temperatura constante de 25 ou 30 ºC, foram mais eficientes na avaliação da germinação e do vigor em sementes peletizadas de tomate. A temperatura alternada de 20-30 ºC e os substratos entre e sobre papel, não se mostraram adequados para avaliar sementes peletizadas de tomate.This study was conducted with the objective of determination of most adequate substrate, temperature and forms of hydration applied in germination and vigor tests of pelleted seeds of tomato. The experiment was carried out at the Seed Analysis Laboratory of the Department of Agronomy of the Federal University of Paraíba, Brazil. The experimental design adopted was a completely randomized and the treatments were distributed in a 3 x 4 x 2 factorial scheme, the factors studied were temperature (25, 30 ºC constant and 20-30 ºC alternate), substrates (on and between paper sheets sand and vermiculite) and the hydration for which distilled water and potassium nitrate were used. The effects were evaluated considering percentage of germination, first counting, germination speed and weight of dry matter of seedlings. The substrates sand and vermiculite moistened with distilled water at constant temperatures of 25 or 30 ºC were the most efficient for germination and vigor test of pelleted seeds of tomatoes. The alternated temperatures 20-30 ºC and substrates on paper and between paper sheets were not found to be adequate for evaluation of pelleted seeds of tomato