It was carried out field and laboratory tests in 1993 and 1994, in order to determine the physiological
quality of soybean seed cultivars. For this purpose, in 1993, Cristalina, IAC-31 Foscarin, IAC-15, UFV-10,
IAC-14 (10 seed lots each) and IAS-5 (four seed lots) cultivars were used, whereas in 1994, there were IAC-31
Foscarin, IAC-15, IAC-14, IAS-5 e Iguaçu cultivars (10 seed lots each). To reach the objective it was evaluated
seed moisture content, after and before the accelerated aging, mechanical damage, standard germination and vigor
measured by accelerated aging, electrical conductivity of soaked seeds and field emergence. It was observed
differences on physiological seed quality among genotypes. The UFV-10 and Cristalina cultivars had performance
better in 1993, and IAC-31 Foscarin, IAS-5, Iguaçu and IAC-14 were the best in 1994, while it was observed
some advantages for IAS-5. The IAC-15 cultivar was the worst in both years. It can concluded that eventhough
some characteristics related to the cultivar can play some role, the physiological seed quality differences among
soybean genotypes can be attribuited mainly to environmental stress conditions during maturation and harvest
periods, especially when it envolves cultivars of different life cycle.