| Rice cold tolerance at the germination stage is important in Rio Grande do Sul (RS) where temperatures below 15°C prevent or reduce germination and plant establishment in early sowings. The present study aimed at identifying an adequate method for cold tolerance evaluation of the rice germination stage and at verifying the variability among 24 rice genotypes of different origins. Cold tolerance was evaluated in experiment I, germination under two conditions: 13°C for 28 days and 28°C for seven days, and in experiment II, germination under 28°C for 72 hours, 13°C for 96 hours and again 28°C for 72 hours. In experiment I measured characteristics were germination index, percentage of seeds with coleoptile length superior to 5 mm and percentage of reduction in... |
