Rapid determination of germination potential is important in seed production programs. Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) seeds for planting are marketed with a wide range of water contents because of doubt as to the appropriate values for maintaining seed viability during storage. The non-destructive LERCAFÉ test, based on sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), correlates well with germination tests and is rapid, cheap and simple to execute and interpret. We assessed different LERCAFÉ test NaOCl concentrations (2.5, 3.5 and 4.5% ative chlorine), seed immersion times (1, 2 and 3 hours) and temperatures (25, 30 and 35 ºC) for determining the viability of manually hulled Arabic coffee variety Catuaí IAC 44 seeds with different water contents (33, 23 and 13%, wet basis). The seeds were also assessed by a standard germination test, which indicated that there was no significant difference in germination frequency between seeds with the different water contents studied. The LERCAFÉ results showed that immersion in 2.5% active chlorine at 35 ºC for three hours or 3.5% active chlorine at 30 ºC for two hours were most efficient for estimating germination, indicating that this test can be used over a wide range of water content. To reduce seed immersion times, 30 °C and 3.5% active chlorine appear to be the best parameters
fast test; sodium hypochlorite; Coffea arabica
