Abstract

This study had the objective of evaluating the effect of water deficit on the growth of soybean plants from seeds with high and low vigor. It was conducted at the Faculdade de Agronomia "Eliseu Maciel” (FAEM-UFPel) using the cultivar M-SOY 8008 RR. The experimental design was a completely randomized in factorial AXB (Factor A: Variables 2, 3, 4 and 5 water deficits; Factor B: two levels of seed vigor, high and low) and a total of ten treatments with four replications. Evaluations of fresh mater, plant height, leaf area and dry weight, at the 10, 20, 30 and 40 DAE. Soybean plants from high vigor seeds have higher fresh weight, plant height, leaf area and dry weight until 40 DAE, and provide higher rates of growth up to 40 DAE. High vigor seeds have better performance than plants of low vigor, when submitted to water deficit until 40 DAE. Water deficit reduces the performance of both plants grown from seeds of high and low vigor.

Key words: Glycine max (L.) Merrill, initial growth, physiological quality, growth rate.