This work aimed to evaluate the effects of the osmotic conditioning of soybean seeds on its performance and competitive ability against weeds. Soybean seeds, variety UFV 16, were harvested at the phenological stages R8 and R8 + 15 days and submitted to osmotic conditioning in a polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000) solution, at -0.8 Mpa, and 20ºC, for 96 hours. Seeds without pre-hydration treatment harvested at the same phenological stage were used as control. Seed germination and vigor were analyzed under laboratory conditions through the standard germination test, using a randomized complete design, 2x2 factorial, with 4 repetitions. Two experiments were conducted under field conditions, using seeds with and without osmotic conditioning, also harvested at the phenological stages R8 and R8 + 15 days, respectively. In both the experiments using randomized blocks with four repetitions, the effects of different weed coexistence periods (0, 15, 30, 45, 60 and 125 days after soybean emergence) with the soybean crop were evaluated. The highest germination and vigor values related to initial and final stands and to grain yield were found in the treatments of seeds conditioned and harvested at the phenological stage R8. Other characteristics evaluated (plant height, number of nodes, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, number of seeds per pod and 100-seed weight) were not altered by conditioning. The competitive effect between weed and crop was verified by the lowest dry biomass values of the weeds, in the treatments in which seeds were harvested at the phenological stage R8 and were osmotically conditioned.
Polyethylene-glycol; germination; vigor; dry biomass
