The objective was to evaluate the effect of desinfection using sodium hypochloride and incubation procedures on the mold growth in the health test of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) seeds. Two experiments were carried out with two lots of cv. Botutatu. In the first experiment, the seeds were divided into two samples and one was submitted to immersion in sodium hypochloride. The incubation was realized in agar medium (PDA, CZ) and paper towel (blotter test and rolled paper), with or without water restriction. In the second experiment, the seeds were submitted to immersion in sodium hypochloride at 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10%, for one, three, five and ten minutes and they were incubated in PDA. The incubation methods in agar medium with water restriction promoted the highest recovery of Aspergillus spp. and Cladosporium spp. in the peanut seeds that had not been submitted to previous desinfection. Thef Rhizopus spp. and group Aspergillus niger incidence was lower in the disinfected seeds, regardless of the immersion period or sodium hypochlorite concentration.
Arachis hypogaea L.; sodium hypochloride; water restriction; Aspergillus spp.
