Colloquium Agrariae (Mar 2021)
LATE HARVEST AND CHEMICAL TREATMENT OF COWPEA SEEDS
Abstract
Reduced quality of cowpea due to late harvest and therefore pathogen incidence may influence the results of the germination test, whenever losses are associated with the agents adhered to seed coat; in that context, chemical treatment of seeds during the evaluations may reflect more accurately physiological quality of the samples, which in turn may assure the emergence results of healthy seedlings and establishment of appropriate plant populations in the field. This study had the objective of evaluating the effects of fungicide treatment on minimizing physiological quality losses of cowpea seeds due to late harvest in germination and seedling development tests. The experimental design was the completely randomized with four replications. Treatments consisted of cowpea, cultivar BRS Guariba, harvested at different times (0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 days after physiological maturity) and treated or not with fungicide carboxim+thiram for seed quality tests. Seeds were initially characterized by seed moisture and mass. Afterwards, samples were evaluated by tests of germination percentage, germination first count, seedling length and dry matter. Data was submitted to variance analysis and means were analyzed as a 2 x 6 factorial. Means from chemical treatment and harvest times were compared by the Tukey test and regression analysis (p≤0.05), respectively, with subsequent unfolding of any significant interactions. Delayed harvest of cowpea seeds sharply reduces germination and vigor, but fungicide treatment before performing physiological tests can provide a better view of losses that were caused by pathogen veiculation in the seed coat.
