Physiological Quality of Treated and Stored Barley Seeds

Abstract

Industrial seed treatment (IST) is used in some grain crops. However, the products used often impair the quality of seeds, especially insecticides. In the case of barley seeds, investigative studies on the use of IST are scarce. The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of IST with the fungicide (Iprodione) and insecticide (Thiamethoxan) products, mixed or not, on the physiological quality of barley seeds, before and after storage for two months. A completely randomized design was used, in a 4x2 factorial scheme, with four replications. The treatments consisted of four combinations of applications carried out via IST on barley seeds, of chemical pesticides (fungicide/insecticide), alone or in mixtures, as follows: {T1 – fungicide Iprodione (Rovral); T2 – Thiamethoxan insecticide (Cruizer); T3 – mixture of fungicide/insecticide products (Iprodione + Thiamethoxan); T4 – Control)}, submitted to storage for two months, with evaluations carried out at T0 (treated and analyzed seeds) and T1 (treated seeds stored for 60 days). The following tests were carried out: water content, germination, first count, accelerated aging, seedling length, seedling dry mass. It was concluded that the germination of barley seeds treated with the fungicide Iprodione (Rovral®) and the insecticide Thiamethoxan (Cruizer®), alone and in a mixture applied via IST, maintained the physiological quality of the seeds within the standards for commercialization until 60 days of storage. The use of the insecticide Thiamethoxan (Cruizer®) via IST showed greater damage to the physiology of barley seeds during storage (60 days), applied alone or in a mixture with the fungicide Iprodione (Rovral ®).