The pearl millet is an annual grass with small seeds, presenting size diversity, and
having some times troubles to establish the adequate stand. The mean of this experiment was to
verify in pearl millet seeds, the influence of the seed size on its germination and vigor. Four seed
lots were used (I, II, III and IV) and were classified in four sizes, through sieves of square mesh:
size 1: 2.00mm, size 2: 1.68 to 2.00mm, size 3: 1.41 to 1.68, size 4: 0.71 to 1.41mm and a part of
the original lot (control), they constituted the sizes. The following tests were employed: weight of
1000 seeds, germination before and after six months of storage (TGI and TGII) and vigor (first
germination counting test and electrical conductivity test). The statistical model was entirely
randomized, with four replications for all the treatments. The seeds size 4 presented smaller weights
of 1000 seeds for every lots and the smallest values for germination in TGI, in every lots, and in
TGII for the lots II and IV. For the vigor (first germination counting) smaller value was observed
for size 4, in the lots I, II and IV; while for the electrical conductivity, the size 4 presented the
highest value for all lots, indicating low physiological quality.