Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-45l2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T04:53:53.768Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Imbibitional injury in maize seed independent of chilling temperature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2008

A. Bochicchio ,
M. A. Coradeschi ,
P. Zienna ,
M. Bertolini  and
C. Vazzana
A. Bochicchio*
Affiliation:
Department of Agronomy and Crop Production, P. le delle Cascine 18, 50144 Florence
M. A. Coradeschi
Affiliation:
Department of Agronomy and Crop Production, P. le delle Cascine 18, 50144 Florence
P. Zienna
Affiliation:
Department of Agronomy and Crop Production, P. le delle Cascine 18, 50144 Florence
M. Bertolini
Affiliation:
Institute for Cereal Crop, Maize Section, Via Stezzano 24, Bergamo, Italy
C. Vazzana
Affiliation:
Department of Agronomy and Crop Production, P. le delle Cascine 18, 50144 Florence
*
* Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Low and high moisture kernels and embryos were imbibed by soaking in distilled water at 5°C and 25°C. Leaching of seeds and embryos was measured by ion conductivity of imbibition water after fixed time intervals. Imbibed kernels were placed on moist filter paper after 1 h imbibition and embryos on a solid culture medium after 15 min imbibition and germinated at 25°C. Primary root length was measured 3 days after germination.

The leakage from seeds or embryos was correlated with the velocity of water uptake but did not show its highest values when low moisture seeds or embryos were imbibed at chilling temperature. Furthermore germination was apparently not affected by imbibitional chilling of either low moisture content seeds or embryos. In one of the three genotypes tested (B73) seedlings from low moisture content seeds imbibed at 5°C showed a reduction of the primary root growth. However, this reduction was also seen in seedlings from low moisture B73 seeds imbided at 25°C and resulting in higher level of leaching. Thus, injury by imbibition of low moisture seeds appears independent of chilling temperature and not due to loss of semipermeability of membrane lipids. Our results suggest that, in the case of embryos, water inrush into the cells reaches levels injurious for membrane integrity independently of the two moisture contents and temperature considered.

Keywords

chilling injuryimbibitional injurymaizeseed leachingmembrane semipermeabilityZea mays
Type
Research Papers
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , June 1991 , pp. 85 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Basra, A.S.,Seema, B. and Malik, C.P. (1988) Physiological basis of chilling sensitivity in germinating maize seeds: imbibition, solute leakage and phospholipid changes. Proc. Indian Natl Sci. Acad. Part B. Biol. Sci.(Biol. Abstr. 88 (4), AB 10).Google Scholar
Benga, G. and Holmes, R.P. (1984) Interactions between components in biological membranes and their implications for membrane function. Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology 43, 195–257.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berry, J.A. and Raison, J.K. (1982) Responses of macrophytes to temperature. Pp. 300–338 in Lange, O.L., Nobel, P.S., Osmond, C.B. and Ziegler, H. (Eds). Physiological Plant Ecology I. Berlin, Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Bochicchio, A. (1984) Zea mays L. and chilling conditions at sowing time. A review. Maydica 30, 241–256.Google Scholar
Bochicchio, A., Vazzana, C., Raschi, A. and Salamini, F. (1986) Effect of maturity degree and seed age on germination and early growth at 20°C and in cold test conditions for a maize hybrid largely cultivated in Italy. Rivista di Agronomia 4, 395–405.Google Scholar
Bochicchio, A., Vazzana, C., Raschi, A., Bartels, D. and Salamini, F. (1988) Effect of desiccation on isolated embryos of maize. Onset of desiccation tolerance during development. Agronomie 8, 29–36.Google Scholar
Cal, J.P. and Obendorf, R.L. (1972) Imbibitional chilling injury in Zea mays L. altered by initial kernel moisture and maternal parent. Crop Science 12, 369–373.Google Scholar
Cohn, M.A. and Obendorf, R.L. (1976) Independence of imbibitional chilling injury and energy metabolism in corn. Crop Science 16, 449–452.Google Scholar
Herner, R.C. (1986) Germination under cold soil conditions. HortScience 21, 1118–1122.Google Scholar
Hoekstra, F.A. and Van Der Wal, E.W. (1988) Initial moisture content and temperature of imbibition determine extent of imbibition injury in pollen. Journal of Plant Physiology 133, 257–262.Google Scholar
Kenrick, J.R. and Bishop, D.G. (1986) The fatty acid composition of phosfatidylglycerol and sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol of higher plants in relation to chilling sensitivity. Plant Physiology 81, 946–949.Google Scholar
Le Deunff, Y., Ballot, S. and Touboul, C. (1989) Hydration of white lupine seeds and leakage of electrolytes. Seed Science and Technology 17, 283–288.Google Scholar
Lyons, J.M. (1973) Chilling injury in plants. Annual Review of Plant Physiology 24, 445–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marangoni, A.G. and Stanley, D.W. (1989) Phase transitions in microsomal membranes from chilling sensitive and chilling resistant tomato plants and fruit. Phytochemistry 28, 2293–2301.Google Scholar
Markowski, A. (1988) Sensitivity of different species of field crops to chilling temperature. I. Interaction of initial seed moisture and imbibition temperature. Acta Physiologiae Plantarum 10, 265–274.Google Scholar
McKersie, B.D. and Stinson, R.H. (1980) Effect of dehydration on leakage and membrane structure in Lotus corniculatus L. seeds. Plant Physiology 66, 316–320.Google Scholar
Perry, D.A. and Harrison, J.G. (1970) The deleterious effect of water and low temperature on germination of pea seed. Journal of Experimental Botany 21, 504–512.Google Scholar
Phillips, J.C. and Youngman, V.E. (1971) Effect of initial seed moisture content on emergence and yield of grain sorghum. Crop Science 11, 354–357.Google Scholar
Powell, A.A. and Matthews, S. (1978) The damaging effect of water on dry pea embryos during imbibition. Journal of Experimental Botany 29, 1215–1229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, A.A., Oliveira, M. De A. and Matthews, S. (1986) The role of imbibition damage in determining the vigour of white and coloured seed lots of dwarf French beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). Journal of Experimental Botany 37, 716–722.Google Scholar
Raison, J.K. and Orr, G.R. (1986) Phase transitions in liposomes formed from polar lipids of mitochondria from chilling-sensitive plants. Plant Physiology 81, 807–811.Google Scholar
Seewaldt, V., Priestley, D.A., Leopold, A.C., Feigenson, G.W. and Goodsaid-Zalduondo, F. (1981) Membrane organization in soybean seeds during hydration. Planta 152, 19–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Senaratna, T. and McKersie, B.D. (1983) Characterization of solute efflux from dehydration injured soybean (Glycine max L. Merr) seeds. Plant Physiology 72, 911–914.Google Scholar
Senaratna, T., McKersie, B.D. and Stinson, R.H. (1984) Association between membrane phase properties and dehydration injury in soybean axes. Plant Physiology 76, 759–762.Google Scholar
Simon, E.W. (1974) Phospholipids and plant membrane permeability. New Phytologist 73, 377–420.Google Scholar
Singh, J., Blackwell, B.A., Miller, R.W. and Bewley, J.D. (1984) Membrane organization of the desiccation-tolerant moss Tortula ruralis in dehydrated states. Plant Physiology 75, 1075–1079.Google Scholar
Stewart, R.C. and Bewley, J.D. (1981) Protein synthesis and phospholipids in soybean axes in response to imbibitional chilling. Plant Physiology 68, 516–518.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Winston, P.W. and Bates, D.H. (1960) Saturated solutions for the control of humidity in biological research. Ecology 41, 232–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yoshida, S., Wahio, K., Kenrick, J. and Orr, G. (1988) Thermotropic properties of lipids extracted from plasma membrane and tonoplast isolated from chilling-sensitive mung bean (Vigna radiata (L) Wilczek). Plant and Cell Physiology 29, 1411–1416.Google Scholar