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Abstract
New perspectives in the study of factors which control seed germination. — Seedlings of Triticum durum, cv. « Cappelli », coming from unirradiated embryos grafted on to irradiated endosperms (EM(u)/EN(i) of presoaked seeds (in distilled water for 24 h. at 20[ddot]C.) (treatment: X-rays, doses, 2,4,6,8,10 and 20 Kr), grow more than seedlings of control EM(u)/EN(u) (dose 0) (fig. 1). To have this reaction, it is necessary that the used seeds be after-ripe; at the various stages of seed ripening, be ginning from the milk stage, the phenomenon is not present.
On this basis, the author has thought that a natural inhibitor occurs in the after-ripe endosperm of « Cappelli », which is neutralized or destroyed by X-rays.
As an experimental demonstration, some trials have been made of growing wheat seedlings in Petri dish, on moistened (distilled water) filter paper, together with excised embryos or isolated endosperms (fig. 2): the after-ripe endosperm is able to depress the seedling growth (fig. 3). In the same experimental conditions, X-rays, dose 6 Kr, neutralize the inhibition effect given by the endosperm. (fig. 4).
A completely different situation occurs in wheat seed, during its ripening: endosperm is inactive, embryo produces inhibition effects on the seedling growth, which, also in this case, are reduced by X-rays.
These phenomena, put in relation with dormancy in Triticum durum, cv. « Cappelli », which is a relative dormancy, having its maximum at the milk stage, have led the author to the general conclusion that, during dormancy, a germination inhibitor occurs in the embryo of wheat seed; when dormancy is finished, the inhibitor appears in the endosperm, in a situation which becomes stable and definitive.