Seed quality and initial performance of seedlings of soybean produced off-season in rio grande do sul, Brazil

Low temperatures and precipitation in off-season soybean may benefit seed production. This work aimed to evaluate seed quality and initial performance of off-season soybean produced in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The experiment was performed under completely randomized design and treatments consisted of ten soybean genotypes produced off-season. We evaluated 1000 seeds weight, first count of germination, speed of germination index, seedling emergence, speed of emergence index, leaf area and shoot and root dry matter at the 20 and 30 days after sowing. Under off-season cultivation, FPS Iguaçu RR presented the greater value for 1000 seeds weight. BMX Turbo RR performed better for first count of germination, seedling emergence and speed of emergence index, along with FPS Iguaçu RR for seedling emergence. BMX Alvo RR had presented greater speed of germination index. FPS Iguaçu RR presented better performance for leaf area and shoot and root dry matter in both dates. BMX Classe RR presented the lower value for 1000 seeds weight and BMX Tornado RR, BMX Potência RR and FPS Solimões RR for first count of germination. For the speed of germination index, FPS Paranapanema RR and FPS Solimões RR were inferior to the others. BMX Potência RR had the lowest seedling emergence and BMX Tornado RR the lowest values for speed of emergence index, leaf area and shoot dry matter at the 20 and 30 days after sowing, along with BMX Potência RR for shoot dry matter at the 20 days and BMX Classe RR at the 30 days.