Physiological quality of soybean seeds of cultivars submitted to harvesting delay and its association with seedling emergence in the field

With the aim of studying the relationship between the physiological quality of soybean seeds submitted to three harvest times and seedling emergence in the field, seeds of cultivars UFV-16, Splendor, Vencedora, Confiança, UFV-18, UFV-TN 105, Garantia and Celeste were harvested at stages R8, R8+15 and R8+30 days. The following tests were performed: accelerated aging, electrical conductivity, emergence in sand, emergence speed index and seedling emergence in the field. Germination and vigor were reduced in seeds harvested at 30 days after stage R8 in all the tests, except for the accelerated aging test, which showed a decline in vigor seeds harvested with a delay of 15 days. Seeds of cultivars UFV-16, Confiança and Garantia showed lower physiological quality in most tests, while the seeds of cultivar Celeste had higher physiological quality than the others. There was similarity between the test results of seed quality and seedling emergence in the field.