Effect of Osmotic Conditioning in Physiological Quality of Cucumis sativus L. and Solanum lycopersicum L. Seeds

The human consumption of vegetables in different parts of the world is quite high, among them tomato stands out on a larger scale and not so far, also is cucumber, both with great economic importance. Due to the problems regarding the vigor of many seeds, techniques that seek to improve the establishment of the seedlings in a uniform way have been implemented. One technique is the osmotic conditioning to which the seeds are submitted, for which compound solutions such as polyethylene glycol or potassium nitrate can be used, with which very satisfactory results are obtained under laboratory and field conditions The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the effect of different doses and osmotic solutions on the physiological quality of seeds of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) in laboratory and field conditions. The evaluated variables were germination percentage, germination speed index, root length and emergence of seedlings. The tomato seeds were conditioned with PEG-6000 (-0.2, -0.4, -0.6 and -0.8 Mpa) and stored for a 30 days period, and as for the cucumber seeds with PEG-6000 (-0.2 and -0.1 Mpa) and with KNO³ (100 mg and 300 mg) with a storage period of 45 days. It is concluded that, in tomato seeds, germination did not present statistical differences, however, the variables referring to vigor were favored with the conditioning in the presence of PEG-6000 with the (-0.2 Mpa) concentration, while in cucumber seeds the germination percentage was better using PEG 6000 compared to nitrate, while for vigor variables it behaved better in the presence of a concentration of (-0.2 Mpa) of PEG.