INFLUENCE OF PACKAGE AND STORAGE IN THE PHYSIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF COTTON
EDNEI DE CONTI MACEDO, DORIS GROTH E JACIRO SOAVE
The experiment was carried out at the Seed Tecnology Laboratory of Campinas State University with the purpose of evaluate the physiological quality of cotton seeds conditioned in two differents types of packages during the storage. It was used 40kg of postly-harvested cotton seeds, conditioned in two types of backages: multiwall paper and polietilene bags. For the physiological quality determination (germination, accelerated aging and first count) the seeds was evaluated at the beginning and at every two months, during 12 months of storage period in environmental conditions of Campinas, SP. The temperature and relative humidity of the storage were recorded and the moisture content of the samples was determinated. The experimental design was a subplot replicated four times in completely randomized blocks.The responses of the samples to the treatments, indicated that the seeds had good storability at the environmental conditions of Campinas; the relative humidity of the air during the storage affected the moisture of the cotton seeds in the two kind of packages; during the storage period there was no difference in the physiological quality of the cotton seeds between the multiwall paper and polietilene bags; the reduction of physiological cotton seeds quality, is began at the eighth month of storage.
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