The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of seed vigor in field emergence, growth and yield of three maize cultivars of different cycles, normal, early and very early, from seed lot with high, low and high germination respectively. Vigor index were determined for each seed lot. The standard germination, cold and accelerated-aging tests, and seedling growth rate showed to be useful on the composition of vigor index of maize seeds. The seeds vigor affected the capacity of seedlings in accumulate dry matter in early stages of growth.There was no effect of vigor index of seeds on yield. However, grain yield was associated to plant density and were significatively higher in the greater plant densities for all three cultivars evaluated.