Selection for aluminum tolerance is complicated by natural soil desuniformity and difficulty in evaluating root damages. As a consequence, it is important to develop efficient methods of characterization of aluminum tolerance in controlled environment. The present work had the objective of adapting the method of minimum solution for the evaluation of aluminum tolerance in maize genotypes. The work consisted of two experiments. The first try was to adjust the evaluation method through the employment of minimum solution and the second aimed to evaluate a group of 22 maize genotypes supplied by the Agroeste Sementes Ltda. The evaluation was accomplished with a solution of different concentrations of aluminum and calcium. The averages showed differences among the hybrid and the aluminum concentrations. The concentrations of 6mg<IMG SRC="http:/img/fbpe/cr/v32n1/a04img01.gif">-1 of aluminum and 40mg<IMG SRC="http:/img/fbpe/cr/v32n1/a04img01.gif">-1 of calcium were considered efficient for the discrimination of aluminum tolerance. This combination was used further to analyze the 22 maize genotypes. In this second experiment, it was possible to identify inbreds with tolerance to aluminum.
aluminum; hybrid, toxicity; minimal solution
