TY - JOUR AU - Mattar, Eduardo Pacca Luna AU - Teixeira Pinheiro, Daniel AU - Pereira, Wander Douglas AU - Brasileiro, Bruno Portela AU - Rodrigues Matrangolo, Walter José AU - Hilst, Paulo César AU - Hormaza Martínez, Paola Andrea AU - Cunha Fernandes dos Santos Dias, Denise PY - 2022/09/30 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Physiological, morphological, and biochemical characterization of Cratylia argentea (Desv.) Kuntze seeds JF - Tropical Grasslands-Forrajes Tropicales JA - Trop. grassl.-Forrajes trop. VL - 10 IS - 3 SE - Research Papers DO - 10.17138/tgft(10)172-183 UR - https://www.tropicalgrasslands.info/index.php/tgft/article/view/987 SP - 172-183 AB - <em>Cratylia argentea</em> is a shrub legume native to tropical regions of South America where it is used for animal feed and green manure. In the absence of germination guidelines, the key aim of this study was to define the most suitable temperature for conducting germination and accelerated aging tests. The biochemical attributes of seeds were also assessed. Seeds with 10% moisture from 4 different seed lots were germinated using the between paper method in a germinator at temperatures of 20, 25, 30 and 35 °C and alternating temperatures of 20/30 °C (16 h:8 h), with daily counting until germination was stable (seven days without germination). For the accelerated aging test, two temperatures (41 and 45 °C) and six aging periods (0, 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 h) for seeds with between 10–40 % moisture content were used. Carbohydrates (%), ethereal extract (%), crude protein (%) and macro and micronutrient contents of the seeds were measured. Results showed that <em>C. argentea</em> seeds consist predominantly of starch (22.67 %) and protein (26.45 %) reserves with a low percentage of lipids. For the germination test, the temperature of 30 °C is recommended, allowing greater percentage and speed of germination, with seedling evaluation at 10 and 20 days. For the accelerated aging test, aging for 48 h at 41 °C is recommended to discriminate <em>C. argentea</em> seed lots in terms of quality. ER -