In the arid and semi-arid regions of the world, the excess of salts in
agricultural lands has limited crop production, being the effect greater during germination and seedling stage. In lhe present paper germination and vigor of rices seeds (Oryza sativa L.) cultivar IAC 1246 were evaluated under saline and nonsaline laboratory conditions. The following seeds pretreatments were used: T1 (control); T2 (immersion ín distilled water for 24 hours); T3 (immersion in gibberelic acid solution for 24 hours); T4
(hydration-dehydration up to radicle protusion). The results demonstrated the usefulness of seed pretreatments as a tool to overcome the osmotic and toxic effects of salts on germination and seed vigor.