Physiological and Sanitary Attributes Evaluation of Organic Coriander Seeds Treated With Essential Oils

For seeds organic production the control of fungi with chemical fungicides is not indicated, which requires the use of biological products. In this sense, the use of essential oils derived from plants is a possibility for microorganisms control. This study evaluated technical feasibility of applying the essential oils of clove, lemongrass, rosemary, eucalyptus, ginger and Tea tree, in concentrations of 500, 1.000, 1.500 and 2.000 μL-1 to organic coriander seeds of the Verdon variety, besides the control. At the beginning of storage and every 60 days the seeds were evaluated for water content, germination, germination velocity index and root emission, seedling emergence and seedling emergence speed index, to shoot length, rootlength, total length and sanity. The experimental design was a completely randomized (DCR), in a 6x4 + 1 factorial scheme, with six essential oils and four concentrations + control treatment, with four replications for germination and vigor analysis, and eight replications for sanitary analysis. With increasing concentration of essential oils, there was a linear reduction in germination and a reduction in the incidence of Alternaria sp. using clove and rosemary oils at a concentration of 500 μL L-1, eucalyptus at a concentration of 1.500 μL L-1 and ginger with 2.000 μL L-1. Therefore, it is possible to use clove and rosemary essential oils up to 500 μL L-1 to reduce the incidence of Alternaria sp. without causing significant reduction in germination.