Racemes are produced in several orders during the castor bean crop growth that develop under different environmental conditions which can cause variations in the seed quality in the field and during storage. This paper aimed to evaluate the effect of different harvest (racemes orders and harvest time) and storage treatments on the physiological quality of castor bean seeds, cultivar IAC-2028. Evaluation tests of germination, seedling emergence in sand, emergence speed and seedling growth were performed soon after harvest and at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of storage under laboratory conditions and uncontrolled air temperature and relative humidity. The evaluations were carried out in a randomized block design with five replications in a split plot design, where the plots consisted of five 3-month evaluation periods and the sub-plots of eleven treatments. It was concluded that the castor bean seeds kept in the field did not deteriorate and storage maintained the quality of the seeds. All the racemes of the IAC-2028 castor bean cultivar can be harvested at a single time without seed quality losses.
Ricinus communis L.; racemes; physiological maturity; harvest time
