An experiment was designed with the objective of to verify the effect of the extraction
method procedures, on the germination of sweet pepper seeds during the storage period of thirty
six months. Fruits of sweet pepper of cultivar Continental AG-498 had the seeds extracted
mechanically through two different thresher machines and by hand. After the extraction procedures
the seeds were dried (6% moisture content) and enclosed into permeable and impermeable packages
and storaged inside a cold chamber (10ºC and 90% of RH), for a period of 36 months. Seed
germination and vigor were determined immediately and at 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months. Seed
extraction by hand without washing the seeds, provided the lowest damages to the physiological
quality of seeds. The evidence of a possible dormancy cycle was verified in the seeds of sweet
pepper along the storage.