There are some results showing that the electrical conductivity test can be influenced by low temperature of seed storage, such as 10 ºC. This work was carried out in order to study the effect of temperature and period of storage on electrical conductivity and chemical composition of the imbibing solution of soybean seeds. For that, seed water content, germination, vigor (accelerated aging, cold test and electrical conductivity), and chemical composition (K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+) of the imbibing solution were determined. Two soybean seed lots of cultivar FT-20 with high and low vigor were used. The evaluations were performed at every three months intervals, during 15 months. Both temperature and storage period influenced seed vigor, as well as the ions leakage. It can be concluded that the electrical conductivity test is not suitable to evaluate vigor of soybean seeds stored at low temperature, and potassium is the major ion leakage regardless of the storage temperature.
Glycine max; vigor; leaching; physiological quality
