AVALIAÇÃO DA QUALIDADE FISIOLÓGICA DE SEMENTES DE MILHO-DOCE PELO TESTE DE ENVELHECIMENTO ACELERADO 1

This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of the accelerated aging test at different periods and exposure temperatures in evaluation of the physiological seed quality of sweet corn lots. The assays were carried out from February to June 2000 at the Laboratorio de Sementes of the Phytotechny Department in the Universidade Federal de Vicosa - MG. Corn seeds of the cultivar BR 400 (Super-Doce) were used into four lots obtained from a drying process at 30, 40, 50 and 60 o C and an environmental relative humidity of 60%. Initially the moisture content of the seeds was determined and then the seed physiologic quality were evaluated by the germination, first germination count and cold tests. The entirely randomized experimental design was used for these tests. Two experiments were carried out in evaluating the methodology of the accelerated aging test. The first experiment was carried out at 42 o C temperature on an entirely randomized design and a factorial scheme 4x4 (four aging periods: zero, 48, 72 and 96 hours and four seed lots) arranged on a split-plot design over time. The second experiment was carried out at 45 o C temperature by using the same design and a factorial scheme 4x4 (four aging periods: zero, 24, 48