The anticipation of soybean harvest is possible with the use of pre-harvest burn-down practice, which reduces the time of permanence of seeds in the field, after reaching physiological maturation. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of time of application of the herbicide paraquat as burn-down during soybean pre harvest on yield and physiological quality of the seeds. The work consisted of two steps: one field experiment, conducted in Jaboticaba-RS, in 2010/2011 and the analysis of the physiological quality of seeds. The treatments consisted of three times of paraquat (240 g a.i. ha-1) application, R6, R7.1 and R7.3, as well as one untreated (without burn‑down). Yield grains and yield components were evaluated. Seed quality analysis was conducted at the Seed Production and Technology Laboratory of UFSM, Campus of Frederico Westphalen, RS, where the following evaluations were carried out : germination, first germination count, root and shoot weight, shoot dry mass of seedlings, accelerated aging, electrical conductivity, field emergence and emergence velocity index. Paraquat application as burn-down practice in soybean pre harvest, at the R6 and R7.1 soybean stages, causes high yield loss in soybean crop. Burn-down without potential yield loss is only viable after R7.3 soybean growth stage. Seeds originated from plants which received paraquat application in R6 and R7.1, show a superior percentile of germination and a higher germination velocity. However, seeds from plants which received paraquat at stage R6 have less seed vigor.
Glycine max; paraquat; growth stage; seed vigor
