Paspalum guenoarum is a forage species recently adapted to the Argentine subtropical area, which would offer advantages to producers by covering the seasonal pasture deficiency of the region. Adequate methodologies of quality control should be taken into account for seed production and trading. The germination assay is an effective tool to establish the quality of seed lots, but to date, there are no precise specifications for the development of this methodology in P. guenoarum. Both temperature and light are determinant in the expression of the maximum germinative potential, but the most favourable magnitudes and regimens must be found for each species. For these reasons, the objective of this study was to establish the adequate temperature and light conditions to evaluate the quality by means of the germination assay in the laboratory. A completely randomised 2 x 2 factor design with four replications of 100 seeds was used. Factors were constant temperature at 27ºC and alternating temperature at 20-35ºC and continuous light and in cycles of 8 h light and 16 h darkness. The germination rate and the germination percentage were determined. The results indicated that the alternating temperature at 20-35ºC was the most appropriate to express the germination potential, regardless of the light regime.
vigor; forage seeds; seeds analysis
