The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of vigour tests and biochemical determinations to estimate the storage potential of cotton seeds (Gossypium hirsutum L.) during 12 months of storage in a cold chamber and environmental conditions in the Storage Sector at the Plant Pathology Department of the Federal University of Viçosa. Before storage, the seeds were submitted to the following tests and determinations: germination, accelerated aging, cool germination, seedling emergence in sand, electric conductivity, lipids content and activities of the lipoxygenase, acid phosphatase and trypsin inhibitors. Aiming to estimate the storage potential, an analysis of the generalized Mahalanobis distances was applied on the results obtained in the vigour tests and on the biochemical determinations carried out before storage and the percentages of germination obtained from each two months of storage. The accelerated aging and cool germination tests carried out before storage can be used to estimate the viability of the seeds, respectively, after eight and ten months of storage under environment conditions. The electric conductivity test and biochemical determinations did not allow estimation of the storage potential of cotton seeds.
Gossypium hirsutum; storage; vigour; biochemical determinations
