Soybean seeds (cultivar iac-8), produced in São Gotardo, MG, in 1991, were grouped into 3 classes, according to the incidence of purple spots, as follows: seeds without symptoms, seeds with 20 to 40%, and 50 to 70% of spot. Seeds, both treated and untreated with thiabendazole, were subjected to disease incidence test, standard germination and soil emergence tets, to evaluate the transmission ahility and the effeel of Cercoapora kikucIii on the early development of the seedlings. The disease incidence test indicated that the presence of Cercospora kikuchii in soybean seeds is not necessarily related to typical symptoms. With the physiological tests, no deleterious effects of the fungus were detected on the emergence and early seedlings development.