QUALIDADE DAS SEMENTES DE SOJA PRODUZIDAS NA BAHIA, REGIÃO MATOPIBA, EM PRÉ-COLHEITA, COLHEITA E BENEFICIAMENTO

Abstract

Seeds with mechanical damage, caused by harvesting and processing machines, have been identified as one of the main limiting factors in agricultural production. This type of damage influences seed germination and development in the field, in addition to compromising seed health. The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of soybean seeds produced in Bahia, in the MATOPIBA region, during pre-harvest, harvest, and processing. The seed collection during manual harvest was done at a single point in the middle of the field, while for the mechanized harvest, the collection occurred when the machine reached its maximum load capacity. In the hopper, a sample was collected during unloading. In the spiral, a sample was taken after the seed classification process, and in the packaging, it was collected after all processing stages. For each stage, tests were performed, including hypochlorite, germination on paper, germination in a seedbed, tetrazolium, emergence speed index, and electrical conductivity. Laboratory tests were conducted with five replications for each stage. The results were analyzed using analysis of variance and mean comparison using Tukey's test at 5%. The results showed that the hopper was identified as the stage that caused the most damage to the seeds, while pre-harvest was the most effective stage in maintaining seed quality.

Keywords: Germination, Glycine max, Harvesting machines, Laboratory tests, Mechanical damage, Vigor.