Rapid and uniform establishment of seedlings in the field are two important prerequisites to achieve a good stand and to ensure the productivity and quality of harvest especially in the case of the vegetable crops. Several techniques have been developed with the objective of increasing the speed and uniformity of the germination and emergence of the seedlings, and osmotic conditioning of the seeds is one of the most promising. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the response of beet seeds to osmotic conditioning in order to achieve more rapid germination and emergence of the seedlings. Three beet seed lots were submitted to seven conditioning treatments: prehydration in distilled water for zero (control), 16 and 24h; prehydration in PEG solution for 24, 48 and 72h and prehydration in MgSO4 solution for 24h. Germination was evaluated at eight and fourteen day at 15ºC and 20ºC along with index of germination speed and emergence, mean times to germination and seedling emergence. Although the osmotic conditioning of beet seeds of average and high physiologic quality has provided benefits to the speed of germination and seedling emergence, the technique needs to be adjusted for the species, given the adaptation need of the conditioning methodology to the different lots produced by the seed industry.
Beta vulgaris; physiologic conditioning; vigor
