The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of priming on stored coffee seeds germination and vigour. The coffee seeds, cv. ‘Catuaí Vermelho IAC 144’ were dried at 30% of moisture content and exposed to four storage conditions combined with two packing materials (polyethylene and cotton) and two storage environments (dry chamber and uncontrolled environment). After each storage period (zero, three, six and nine months), the seeds were submitted to priming treatments by saturated atmosphere or osmotic conditioning with PEG 6000 at 0.0 and -0.4MPa. Unprimed seeds were used as control. The seeds were evaluated by tests of moisture content, germination, vigour and health test. The physiological conditioning favored the seeds germination and vigour that were stored in the polyethylene packs and maintained in the dry chamber, during nine months.
Coffea arabica L.; packing; hydration; invigoration
