Neem extract for tomato seeds treatment

Abstract

Organic production systems should be implanted using organic seeds free of microorganisms and without chemicals application. Neem extracts has been shown to be efficient to control seed microorganism, however its effects on the physiological seed quality, is still unknown. The aim of this work was to identify the viability of aqueous extract of neem leaf as an alternative to the chemical treatment in tomato seeds Super Marmande cultivar. The experiment was carried out in a laboratory of the State University of Piauí campus Corrente. Different concentrations of neem aqueous extract were prepared using 0, 40, 80, 120, 160 and 200 grams of neem leaves per 1 liter of distilled water. Doses of each concentration containing 8 ml of the aqueous extract were used to treat 100 tomato seeds. A dose of thiran (3 grams per kilogram of seed) was used as chemical control. After the treatment, seeds were evaluated for germination, first counting of germination, cold, field seed emergence, emergence speed index, dry matter of seedlings and frequency index of contaminants. For this study a completely randomized design was emplyed, with 7 treatments and 4 replicates. None of the neem aqueous extracts concentrations altered physiological quality of tomato seeds. Moreover, the neem extracts with a concentration of 160 and 200 g L-1 were efficient to reduce contaminants present in the seeds. Based on our results, the application of neem extracts could be an efficient alternative for organic treatment of tomato seeds replacing chemical treatments.