Pepper seeds of the cultivar Yolo Wonder, treated with Captan and which presented germination of 69% were osmoconditioned in aerated solution of PEG 6000, KNO3 and PEG 6000 + KNO3, at the osmotic potential of -1.1MPa for eight days at a temperature of 25°C. Following conditioning, the seeds were washed and dried under environmental conditions until they reached their original weight. With the objective of verifying the effect of these treatments on physiological and biochemical characteristics, the seeds were submitted to the germination tests, percentage and velocity index of root protusion, seedling lenght, electrical conductivity test, emergence and seedling emergence velocity index and enzyme analysis by the PAGE system for the isoenzymes catalase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. For comparison of the immersion osmoconditioned seeds, dry seeds and seeds conditioned on paper moistened with PEG 6000 solution were used at the
same potential, temperature and conditioning potential. Water content reached by the seeds was greater when soaking was done in pure saline solution, followed by the mixture with PEG. Seeds conditioned in PEG 6000 on the paper presented a better performance, followed by the treatment in KNO3 saline solution, while the immersion methods in solutions containing PEG solute were less efficient. The results obtained by the electric conductivity test were not consistent with the results obtained by the other tests for evaluation of seed physiological quality of seeds. The osmotic conditioning technique constituted an alternative to the improvement of the performance of pepper seeds, recovering lots which presented germination close to the national commercialization pattern of certified seeds.