Quality of Top, Middle and Bottom Buffelgrass Seeds From Different Collecting Sites

This work aimed to characterize physically and physiologically buffelgrass seeds collected in different municipalities located in the semiarid region of Bahia and at different positions in the panicle. At each site, two hundred mature, whole panicles were collected when seeds were naturally falling. A 5 × 3 factorial in a completely randomized design was used. Factors were five municipalities where seeds were collected and three positions within the panicle (bottom, middle and top portions), with four replicates of 50 seeds for each treatment. Moisture content, dry seed weight, electrical conductivity, germination percentage, germination speed index and emergence speed index were assessed. Data were tested by analysis of variance and Tukey test at 5% of significance level. Soil and climate conditions of each region affect the physiological quality of buffelgrass seeds. Seeds located in bottom and middle portions of the panicle are more vigorous than seeds located in the top portion. The municipality of Poções has better conditions for yielding buffelgrass seeds of better quality than the remaining municipalities.