Physical and physiological quality of Phaseolus lunatus L. seeds

Abstract

The lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus L.) have rusticity and environment adaptability; have high levels of protein and important social aspect. The aim of this study was to evaluation the physical, physiological and morphological characteristics of the external seeds, which been collected in the Montes Claros-MG Municipal Market. The experiment has done at the Laboratory of Seed Analysis ICA/UFMG and has used three batches of four varieties, been studied: the morphology and integument coloration, moisture test, mass of thousand seeds, germination test, germination speed index, a field emergence test, emergence speed index, shoot dry mass. The experimental design has been completely randomized with factorial 4x3 (four seeds varieties vs. three different lots), with 4 repetitions, totaling 48 plots. It has found significant effects in the interaction between variety and lot about the characteristics: thousand seeds weight, germination percentage, germination speed index, emergency and initial moisture. There was variation in physical and physiological quality between studied varieties, as influenced by the environment. The varieties of lima bean called by ‘marronzinha’, ‘leite’ and ‘anduzinha’ demonstrated a high physiological quality.