Use of sodium hypochlorite in the priming of tobacco seeds

Due to the non-uninform maturation of tobacco fruits and seeds, the priming technique has been used by the tobacco industry as a way of increasing the uniformity and germination speed of seeds. Several factors can affect priming, including the time and environment in which the treatment is performed. In order to evaluate the effect of sodium hypochlorite as priming agent at different concentrations and the priming period on the physiological quality of the tobacco seeds, it was used a batch of seeds from the CSC 439 cultivar, Virginia varietal group. The seeds were subjected to priming in aerated solution at different priming periods (180, 60, 30, 15, and 5 min) and concentrations of sodium hypochlorite (1%, 0.50%, 0.25%, and 0,10 %). The physiological quality was evaluated by the water content and germination tests, first germination count, germination speed index, initial and final stand, emergence rate index and electrical conductivity. The priming with sodium hypochlorite does not affect germination, but allows a higher rate and speed of emergence when using the 1% concentration for 180, 30 and 15 min.