Vigor tests are used by seed producing companies in the internal quality control that include the seedling length test that has potential to be used for this purpose. The objective of this study was to verify the possibility of using the seedling length test as a vigor method to classify soybean seed lots in agreement with their physiological quality. For this, the form of presentation was varied of the average results of seedlings and their parts (root and hypocotyls) length test. The physiological quality of three soybean lots (Embrapa 48), of the same size class and with similar moisture content was evaluated by viability and vigor test carried out in the laboratory and field. A completely randomized design was used. The averages were compared by the Tukey test at 5%. The mean laboratory and field test data were correlated. It was concluded that the soybean root length was more sensitive to differentiate lots, presenting greater correlation with the field soybean seedling emergence. The data for seedling length or their parts only distinguished the three soybean lots when the average results were divided by the number of seeds in the test, showing to be the most effective form to classify high quality lots with subtle differences in vigor.
Glycine max; vigor; methodology
