Drying delay effect on physiological quality of stored annual ryegrass seeds

The objective of this work was to study drying delay effect on physiological quality of annual ryegrass seeds (Lolium multiflorum Lam.), cultivar Comum-RS. Drying delay periods (0, 2,4,6, 8, 12, 18, 24, 36 and 48 hours) and storage periods (0, 4 and 8 months) were compared. Drying delay was performed using 18 polystyrene boxes with 24 kg of seeds each. Following, seeds were placed on a shadowy concrete floor for 12 hours, followed by a drying period in a forced air oven. Seeds retained initial germination percentage after 8-month storage period with drying delay up to 12 hours. From 6-hour drying delay, seed vigor began to be reduced after 8-month storage period. Until 4-month storage period, seed vigor was maintained with up to 11-hour drying delay. Seeds with germination percentage above 70% retained those values until 8-month storage period unrelated to drying delay period.