**2.4 Third experiment**

To develop the third experiment, were chosen for each cultivar, the concentrations of the solutions of aluminum sulfate, NaCl, PEG and the period of imbibition that provided the biggest differences between the treatment with Cruiser and control, from the second study. Seeds of two soybean cultivars were treated with the recommended level of Cruiser 350 FS - **D1** - (100 mL f.p./100Kg seed) and the control seeds were treated only with distilled water - **D0**. The concentrations of the solutions and the periods of imbibition used in the different treatments are shown in the Table 1.


Table 1. Concentration of solutions (\*) used in third experiment – aluminum (Al sulfate), salinity (NaCl) and water deficit (PEG) and periods of imbibition in which were collected the samples of Embryo Axis of soybean cv. BRS 133 and Pintado.

For each treatment and imbibition period described in Table 1, were collected samples of embryo axis in two imbibition periods to determine activity of the antioxidant enzymes, peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD).

Enzymatic extracts used for determination of SOD and POD activities were obtained according to the method described by Ekler et al. 1993. POD and SOD activities were assayed according to the method described by Teisseire & Guy (2000) e Bor et al. (2003), respectively.
