Influence of temperature and substrate on chia seeds germination

Abstract

The use of chia seeds as food is increasing as well as its culture, which leads to the need for quality moni­toring of seeds and the establishment of standards for such, non-existent in Brazil. This paper evaluates the effect of two temperatures (18 and 25 °C) and three substrates (between-paper, on-paper and paper-roll) on chia seed germination. A completely randomized design in 2 x 3 factorial arrangement with four replications of 100 seeds was carried out. Each replicate was individually wrapped in gearbox box kept in chambers of BOD (18 °C) and Mangelsdorf (25 °C). The evaluation of the percentage of germination was performed on 7 and 14 days by counting the germinated seeds. There was no interaction between factors and the tempera­ture of 25 °C showed better results for the germination of chia seeds (95%), regardless of substrates. The paper-between substrate performed best showing 84% germination at 18°C.

Additional keywords: Salvia hispanica; seeds quality; viability.