This work was carried out to determine the effect of temperature and imbibitiom period on the electrical conductivity (EC) and to verify the applicability of the test in the determination of the physiological quality of the three seed lots of Dalbergia nigra. The results of germination tests in laboratory and nursery were correlationed with the datas of EC. The germination tests were conduced with four replications of the 25 seeds. Four replications of 50 seeds were used to measure the EC. Each subsample (replication) was placed in dish containing 75ml of deionized water and soaked for 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 hours at 20, 25 and 30ºC. Lot 3 seeds had the worst quality. Seeds belonging to lot I presented generally intermediary quality, but for some characters they were not different (P>0,05) from lot II. The EC values of the three seed lots were higher as the temperature and the imbibition period increased. Lot III, apparently, had the lowest physiological seed quality since showed the highest values of EC. There was not differentiation between lots I and II. It can be concluded that the EC test was efficient to discriminate Dalbergia nigra seed lots and presented high level of association with the germination test.
Dalbergia nigra; electrical conductivity; physiological quality
