Physiological Quality of Cabbage (Brassica oleracea (L.) var. capitate) Seeds Coated with Different Materials

Abstract

The seed coating technique has driven the development of the seed industry that seeks to offer a competitive product; it has improved the characteristics of planting, germination, vigor and sanity of the seeds, especially those with very small sizes that make it difficult to manipulate, as observed in vegetable seeds. However, information on aggregating materials is still very restricted to large companies. The objective of this study was to evaluate the physiological quality of cabbage seeds (Brassica oleracea (L.) var. Capitata) coated with bentonite, gypsum and kaolin and different percentages of gum arabic. The coating was performed using as filler materials, bentonite, gypsum and kaolin and as cementing material gum arabic in the percentages of 20, 30, 40 and 50%. The coating of the seeds was made in a design developed equipment for this purpose. After coating, the seeds were submitted to germination and vigor tests and the water content was also determined. The experiments were organized in a completely randomized design, in a factorial scheme 4 x 4 (fillers and percentages binder). Data were submitted to Analysis of Variance by the F test (p ≤ 0.05) and the means, when necessary, compared by the Skott-Knott test (p ≤ 0.05). The coating with gypsum promoted the highest values for most of the studied variables, not differing in some cases from the non-treated seed, followed by kaolin and bentonite. The cementing material contributed to the difference between the variables, where the highest levels were responsible for low germination and vigor of the seeds.