Seeds of cotton cvs. CNPA Precoce 2 and CNPA 7H, produced under irrigated conditions in Touros Rio Grande do Norte State Brazil during the 1998/99 growing season were submitted to deseeding, mechanical or chemical delintering and then, packed in multi-layered paper bags and stored in a dry chamber or under room conditions during 360 days. Every 90 days, data on physiological and sanitary conditions of seeds were collected. The split plot design was employed, with four replications for each whole plot treatment arranged according to a completely randomized design. Collected data were analyzed by variance analysis and polynomial regression techniques. Chemically delinted seeds from both varieties, stored in dry chamber, preserved their physiological qualities until 270 days of storage. cv. CNPA Precoce 2 deseeded or mechanically delinted seeds kept better their physiological and sanitary conditions when stored in dry chamber. The same occurred for cv. CNPA 7H seeds when stored under room conditions. Seed mycoflora was constituted by Aspergillus.
Gossypium hirsutum L.; delintering; seed viability; seed vigor; seed mycoflora
