The objective of this study was to estimate the correlation between the results of the electric conductivity test carried out with different temperatures and soaking periods and other tests that estimate seed physiological quality. Soybean seeds were harvested at the R8 stage and 15, 30 and 45 days after R8, in the 2001/2002 and 2002/2003 growing seasons. Seed quality was evaluated by the germination, first germination count, accelerated aging, sand bed emergence and electric conductivity tests. In addition to the traditional electric conductivity test, at 25ºC for 24 hours, other methodologies were evaluated, using 20 subsamples of 10 seeds kept at 32ºC or 40ºC for 10, 30, 60 and 120 minutes. The studied methodologies correlated well with the traditional methodology, as well as with the other tests evaluated and the 120-min period, at both temperatures, correlated best with the other evaluated tests, being equivalent to the 24-h period.
Glycine max; correlation; temperature and soaking period
