Impact of light quality on the physiological characteristics of Capsicum chinense seeds

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the physiological quality of Capsicum chinense seeds submitted to different light spectral qualities. It was used a completely randomized design, in a 4x5 factorial scheme, with four pepper cultivars [BRS moema biquinho yellow (Biq. Yellow), Airetama biquinho red (Biq. Red), Boyra Habanero red (Boyra Hab. Red), BRS Seriema tupã bode red (Tupã Bode Red)] and five light spectral qualities, being blue LEDs (B-LEDs); red LEDs (R-LEDs); blue+red LEDs (BR-LEDs); white LEDs (W-LEDs) and fluorescent lamp (FL) carried out germination and vigor analysis, with four replicates of 50 seeds. For this, the seeds were conditioned inside gerbox® boxes and kept in a growth room. The Biq. Yellow and Boyra Hab. Red peppers showed the highest potential of germination and vigor, respectively, indicating high physiological quality. In general, the light spectral qualities provide differentiated responses in the initial development of the pepper cultivars, being the reduction of the percentage of dead seeds favored by the spectrum BR-LEDs and W-LEDs. The root fresh mass is increased by all lights, except R-LEDs. The fresh mass of the aerial part presents positive results in the FL lamps. Shoot length is favored by the R-LEDs.