Germinação e vigor de sementes de feijão-caupi (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) de diferentes tamanhos Germination and vigour of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) seeds of different sizes

Palavras-chave: Qualidade fisiologica, Dimensoes, Classes de largura. ABSTRACT - The classification by size and seed mass may be a strategy to increase productivity, since seed size affects germination, plant vigor and grain production. The objective was to evaluate the seed germination of cowpea cv. Novaera of different sizes. Seeds were passed through a set of sieves circular, overlapping, allowing the separation of four classes of width, corresponding to the seeds retained in sieve numbers 17, 18, 19 and 20. To evaluate the effect of seed size were analyzed water content, the thousand seed weight, germination, first count and germination speed index (GSI), electrical conductivity and potassium leaching. We conducted analysis of variance and means were compared by Tukey test at 5% probability. The seed size has no influence on the germination performance of cowpea cv. Novaera, however, smaller seeds (sieve 17 to 6.74 mm) have a higher germination rate. The smaller seeds (sieve 17 to 6.74 mm) are less vigour for those larger.