Improving accelerated aging and electrical conductivity tests to assess popcorn seed vigor

Laboratories constantly evaluate seed lot quality under controlled conditions; however, these tests may overestimate actual field values, making vigor tests indispensable. This study fine-tuned the methods for testing electrical conductivity and accelerated aging to determine popcorn seed vigor. Four lots of hybrid AP8203 popcorn seeds underwent testing for the parameters of germination, first germination count, seedling length, emergence, emergence speed index, water content, electrical conductivity (immersion of 50 or 100 seeds in 50, 75, and 100 ml of distilled water for two, four, five, eight, and 24 hours), and accelerated aging (conventional with water, unsaturated NaCl solution, and saturated NaCl solution). The study had a completely randomized design. The accelerated aging test efficiently aged popcorn seeds using a conventional solution for 48 hours and a saturated saline solution for 72 hours. The electrical conductivity test effectively discriminated seed lots into vigor classes when using 50 popcorn seeds in 50 ml of water at 25°C after six hours of imbibition.