Temporal Waterlogging and Physiological Performance of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Seeds

The aim of this work was to evaluate the physiological performance and some attributes of wheat seeds originated from plants submitted to soil flooding at different stages of development. The treatments consisted of periods of soil flooding, absence of flooding, two floods and three floods of the soil. Each flood lasted for three days. For the evaluation of the physiological quality, the seeds were submitted to the tests of germination and first germination count, germination speed index, shoot and primary root length, shoot and primary root dry matter mass, harvest index, thousand seed mass, electrical conductivity and isoenzymatic analysis. The increase of the soil flooding period did not affect germination, while the germination speed andindex, the harvest index and the thousand seed mass were lower in plants under the higher periods of soil flooding. The expression and intensity of bands of acid phosphatase and peroxidase isoenzymes were differently altered by periods of flooding. Thus, soil flooding negatively influences the physiological performance, the thousand seed mass and the harvest index when the plants are submitted to flooding of the soil.