The pelleting of vegetable seeds is a very common technique, mainly for the species which have small seeds. One of its functions is to increase the seed size for direct sowing. The present study verified the pelleting of tomato seeds with different types of materials and to evaluated the performance during seed storage. The materials used as pelleting coats were sand + microcellulose and limestone + microcellulose, with and without Rovrin fungicide (200g/100kg of seeds). Raw seeds were covered, and treated with or without fungicides. Then, seeds were dried and put in paper envelopes (permeable) and in aluminum foil (impermeable) and stored at room temperature at the Universidade Federal de Lavras Seed Lab. The evaluation of seed quality was done once every four months, for 24 months, using the following determinations: germination test, accelerated aging and emergence on soil + sand. Covered seeds presented slower germinatnion than the raw seeds. Seeds covered with limestone + microcellulose deteriorated faster than the ones with sand + microcellulose and seeds treated with fungicides in association with the pelletting materials lost their quality faster during the storage. Seeds covered with sand + microcellulose and without fungicide maintained their quality for the 24 months of storage, regardless of the packing used.
quality; germination; packing; fungicide
