Seeds of Carthamus Tinctorius Submitted to Hydration: Morphological Aspects and Emergence

The present study aimed to evaluate the initial development of safflower genotypes (Carthamus tinctorius) after different periods of seed hydration. For the study two experiments were evaluated. At first, an experiment was performed with 0, 24, 48, 72, 168 and 360 hours of seed hydration, and in the second moment, another with 0, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 hours of hydration. The experimental design for the two experiments was completely randomized, with four replicates and six treatments. After 30 days of conduction of the experiments were analyzed the percentage of emergency, index of emergency speed, average time of emergency and average speed of emergency. The evaluated morphological characteristics were plant height, stem diameter, root length, fresh shoot and root mass and dry shoot mass. Hydration of seeds in considerable proportions positively influences the emergence and development of safflower plants. The highest performance in the emergence of plants, size, accumulation of fresh and dry shoot mass and fresh root mass was obtained by the IAPAR genotype, which stood out in relation to the other. The greatest emergencies were obtained with seeds with 36 hours of hydration, and the lowest emergence was found after 72 hours under hydration.