João Roberto Pimentel

Effects of Macronutrients in the Physiological Quality of Soybean Seeds

The aim of this work was to correlate macronutrient content of soybean seeds to physiological quality of different cultivars. The work was developed in the Federal University of Pelotas, in the facilities of the Seed Science and Technology Graduate Program. The experimental design was randomized blocks in arranged in four replicates. The following soybean cultivars were used: BMX Apolo RR (12 lots), BMX Ativa RR (13 lots), BMX Energia RR (26 lots), BMX Forca RR (24 lots), BMX Impacto RR (35 lots), BMX Magna RR (16 lots), BMX Turbo RR (44 lots), BMX Potencia RR (82 lots) and NA 5909 RR (28 lots), with seeds produced in northwest Rio Grande do Sul. The determination of nutritional contents found in plant tissues of soybean seeds, were measured: Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), Magnesium (Mg), Calcium (Ca), Sulfur (S). The macronutrient contents of the seeds vary according to genetic characteristics of the cultivars, with higher oscillations of nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium and sulfur contents present in soybean seeds. Potassium and calcium are defined as the most stable nutrients for the cultivars and seed lots analyzed. High concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium are determinants for the physiological quality of soybean seeds.

Ecology of Upland Rice Plants and Seeds Subjected to Growth Regulator

The objective of this work is to verify the influence of the plant regulator trinexapac-ethyl on plant growth and physiological quality of upland rice seeds. We used an upland rice genotype, and the growth regulator was the trinexapac-ethyl. The experiment was completely randomized in a 4 × 8 factorial design related to four concentrations of the plant regulator trinexapac-ethyl [0 (without growth regulator), 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75 L c.p. ha-1] and 7 plant collection times [14, 28, 42, 56, 70, 84, 98 days after emergence (DAE)], with four replicates. To determine growth attributes, we evaluated total dry matter, dry matter production rate, relative growth rate, leaf area ratio, leaf matter, leaf area index, solar energy conversion efficiency and partition of assimilates. The physiological quality of the seeds was evaluated based on germination, first germination count, field emergence, emergence speed index and seedling dry matter. Plant growth was affected by the growth regulator. Total dry matter, dry matter production rate and solar energy conversion efficiency decreased, while leaf area index, leaf area ratio and leaf matter increased due to the effects of the growth regulator. The dry matter partition of plants changed in plants subjected to the growth regulator, with a delay in the targeting of assimilates to reproductive organs and a greater allocation to roots at the end of the cycle in plants subjected to the doses 0.50 and 0.75 L·ha-1 of growth regulator. Seed vigor was adversely affected by the growth regulator.