Neste trabalho, avaliou-se a qualidade fisiológica e se quantificaram os possíveis gradientes de umidade de sementes de sorgo BR 601, durante o armazenamento. Utilizaram-se amostras coletadas em secador de camada fixa vertical, com duto central perfurado e distribuição radial de ar. Os pontos amostrais no secador se distanciavam 0,10; 0,30 e 0,50 m em relação à lateral do duto central de ar e nas alturas de 0,85; 2,02 e 3,64 m da base do secador, com capacidade de 8 t, além de uma amostra média (M) que representou os três pontos radiais, respectivamente. Armazenou-se o sorgo durante nove meses e se avaliou a germinação, vigor e umidade do produto no terceiro, sexto e nono meses de armazenamento. Não houve diferença na qualidade fisiológica das sementes nas diferentes alturas e distâncias em relação ao duto central de ar do secador, em relação à média (M) durante o armazenamento, mas no decorrer deste, a queda de qualidade foi mais evidente no teste de frio, obtida no nono mês de armazenamento.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the physiological quality and possible moisture gradients in seeds of sorghum BR 601, during storage. Samples from a vertical fixed-bed dryer with a perforated central duct and radial air distribution were used. In the dryer, the sample points were located at 0.10, 0.30 and 0.50 m distances in relation to the lateral of the central air duct. A composite sample was also collected and used as the control in relation to the others, at the respective heights. These sampling procedures were followed at heights of 0.85; 2.02 and 3.64 m from the dryer base. Within each height and distance relative to the air duct, the collected samples were stored during nine months and evaluated for germination and vigor. At the third, sixth and ninth months after storage, the samples were evaluated for possible differences in quality and seed moisture gradient in comparison to the composite sample. No differences were observed in the physiological quality of the seeds from either different heights or distances relative to the hot-air central duct, in comparison to the composite sample, during the storage time. In general, seed vigor diminished with time while the decreasing quality was most evident in a cold test, conducted after nine months of storage.