Quality of soybean seeds submitted to different treatments and storage conditions

Chemical seed treatment is a recommended technique to protect seeds from pathogens that can affect their quality. The objective of this work was to analyse the quality of soybean seeds with different treatments under different storage temperatures. Seeds of cultivar ‘M 8378 IPRO’ produced in Mato Grosso, Brazil were used. A completely randomised design was used in a 4 × 3 two-factorial scheme. The seeds were treated with three different combinations of chemicals (fungicides, insecticides, polymer and drying powder) in addition to the control (untreated seeds) combined with three different storage temperatures (13 °C, 19 °C and uncontrolled temperature), with three repetitions. Quality was assessed by the germination test (TG), accelerated aging (AA), field emergence (FE), tetrazolium test (TZ) and isoenzyme analysis. The uncontrolled storage temperature negatively influenced the variables germination, accelerated aging and field emergence. The vigour and viability of the tetrazolium test showed that untreated seeds had better physiological quality than seeds with chemical treatment. The expression of isoenzymes showed a difference between treatments. Even with the stress caused by the seed treatment, this tool is very important for the initial protection of the seedlings.