Comparação de métodos para avaliação da qualidade fisiológica em sementes de calêndula

Calendula (Calendula officinalis L.) is a plant with medicinal properties used in phytotherapic production and in the cosmetic industry. Seed is the basic input, so requirements of physiological quality to guarantee the establishment of cultivations with high productivity is essencial. Four lots were used with different origins and storage times of storage to evaluate the efficiency of methods that allow separation of lots of calendula seeds in vigor levels. The lots were evaluated using germination test, seed moisture content, seed dry matter weight, weight of 1000 seeds, first count of the germination test, emission of primary root, electrical conductivity, seedling emergence, speed of seedling emergence, seedling length, seedling green matter and dry matter weight. The tests of first count of the germination, emission of the primary root, and speed of seedling emergence index allowed the separation of the lots in vigor levels. The combination of the information supplied by the comparison of averages and for the correlation analysis between different vigor test and seedling emergency facilitates better evaluation of the seed quality.