Adaptaciones metodológicas para evaluar la calidad fisiológica en semillas de chile habanero (capsicum chinense jacq.)

Habanero chili pepper (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) is an important crop in the Yucatán Peninsula, which recently extended to other regions of Mexico. There are few studies about the seed of this species, whose physiological quality deteriorates quickly. Therefore, it was evaluated through the accelerated aging (AA) test, to assess its quality. Three periods of AA were tested (24, 48 and 72 h), two temperatures (35 and 50 °C), and two levels of relative humidity (RH, 99 and 20%), on seeds from three experimental varieties. The controls without aging had 97-99 % of germination. The greatest decrease in germination (75 %) (P0.01) was observed with the treatment of 50 °C and 100 % RH compared to the other combinations of temperature and RH, where germinations of around 90 % were obtained. The viability was not higher (P0.01) than the germination, following the same pattern of behavior. In terms of vigor, the treatment of 35 °C and 100 RH provoked higher G11 (50%) and speed of emergence (7.4 radicles d1) versus 1% and 1 radicle d1, respectively, from the treatment of 50 °C and 100 % RH. It is possible to use the AA test to assess the physiological quality of the habanero pepper seed, and the period of 24 h at 50 °C and 100 % RH could be an adequate treatment for it.