Water Stress in the Production and Quality of Bidens pilosa and Raphanus raphanistrum Seeds

ABSTRACT: Plants in soils with low water availability may present a reduction of their leaf area and photosynthetic rate, as well as lower assimilated compound supply for seeds. Knowing the physiological quality and seed production of weeds generated under water deficit conditions can help understanding the survival and competition strategies of species. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of water stress on the production and germination of Bidens pilosa and Raphanus raphanistrum seeds. Plants were maintained in soils with different water potentials (-0.03, -0.07 and -1.5 MPa) throughout their cycle, until seed production, when they were harvested. Then, evaluations were performed to find out the number of seeds per plant and number of seeds per pod (Raphanus raphanistrum). The evaluation on the germination of these seeds was performed on moistened paper, with four replications, at 20-35 oC and 8 hours of light per day, weekly, until 28 days after seeding. The experimental design was completely randomized with three treatments (soil water potential: -0.03 MPa, -0.07 MPa and -1.5 MPa). The results were submitted to analysis of variance by F test, and the means of the treatments were compared by Tukey’s test at 5% probability. It was concluded that Bidens pilosa is more adapted to water deficit conditions than Raphanus raphanistrum, due to the higher production of seeds, better germination and seedlings with greater vigor.