In order to predict the germination potencial of soybean seeds of the Santa Rosa variety during storage, an experiment was conducted, The seeds with initial moisture content of 0.333 (dry basis) were dried under an air temperature of 30 ºC and relative humidity of 40% until the moisture content of 0.111; 0.176 and 0.250 (dry basis) were reached. The seeds were conditioned in paper bags and maintained under different storage temperatures (5, 10, 20 and 30 °C). The seed viability was evaluated just after drying and every 10 days, during 60 days, applying the standard germination test. In general, for the majority of the tests, the temperature and the moisture content affected the seed germination during the storage period. However, for the storage temperatures of 5 and 10 °C the seeds maintained the viability at satisfactory levels, independently of the moisture content of the product. The experimental results of germination were evaluated by adjusting the data to the exponential and probit mathematical models. The results obtained in this work lead to the conclusion that the temperature and the moisture content of the stored soybean seeds affect their germination and that the exponential model better fits the experimental data.
soybean; germination; mathematical models
