Evaluation of vigor and tolerance of sweet corn seeds under hypoxia

Abstract

– Evaluation of the physiological potential of seeds by fast and efficient methods is an important step in the process of production and commercialization of sweet corn seeds. The aim of this study was to discriminate sweet corn seed lots by applying multivariate methods regarding the usual vigor tests to verify the sensitivity of these seeds to flood conditions and to verify if the submersion test has potential for classifying lots of this species regarding vigor. Five seed lots of sweet corn were tested for moisture content and physiological potential. Cluster analysis and principal component analysis were performed on the data to discriminate the seed lots regarding initial vigor. Subsequently, two of these lots were selected for the water submersion test, performed with four replicates of 150 seeds, which were submerged in 100 mL of distilled water for 0, 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours at 25 ºC, and they then underwent the germination test. Discrimination of sweet corn seed lots is possible through multivariate analysis. Sweet corn seeds are sensitive to submersion in water; however, the test did not allow seed lots to be differentiated for vigor.