Tetrazolium test as an alternative to evaluate germination in ryegrass seeds (Lolium multiflorum Lam.

• Autor(a) principal: Silveira, Maria Angelica Moreira
• Data de Publicação: 2008
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Pesquisa Agropecuária Gaúcha (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://revistapag.agricultura.rs.gov.br/ojs/index.php/revistapag/article/view/237
• topic: ryegrass, seeds, tetrazolium, germination.; azevém, sementes, tetrazólio, germinação.

Ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) is an important forage to supply necessities of pasture in winter in all the south region of Brazil. The germination test for this species can delay up to 28 days and the tetrazolium test may allows in three days the evaluation. The objective of this study was to verify the security of tetrazolium test to evaluate germination ryegrass seeds and to make possible and to spread out this test as routine in the seed testing laboratories of analysis of seeds. Data from germination and tetrazolium test were obtained from samples of 929 seeds lots of 1994 up to 2004 in the fiches of analysis in the Seed Testing Laboratory of LASO/FEPAGRO. The tests were carried through in accordance with the Rules for Testing Seeds. The results shown that over 1055 analyses in ryegrass seeds , 922 were germination tested and 133, tetrazolium tested. The samples in which the two tests were carried out, were compared by the test t. A difference of 4% between the two tests was not significant. It was concluded that the use of the tetrazolium test is possible, with efficiency and rapidity, as a routine test to evaluate the quality of ryegrass seeds.