SEED GERMINATION AND SUCROSE

[Ross Koning]

At  2:18 AM 2/5/98 +0000, SStilwill wrote:
>HELP I AM TRYING DESPERATELY TO FIND AN ARTICLE OR TWO ON HOW SUCROSE SLOWS THE
>GERMINATION PROCESS. PLEASE HELP. I NEED THE RESEARCH. CAN;T FIND ANYTHING
>SEARCHING ON THE WEB. THANKS

I'm going to venture a guess that the concentrations
that slow germination are near 0.3 M (isotonic) and
higher.  Basically, putting the seed into this solution
(or stronger) will prevent the seed from germinating
because turgor pressure will be zero and the cells
cannot expand...but as the embryo uses the sucrose
in respiration (along with bacteria and fungi in the
container with the seeds), the concentration falls
to hypotonic and then the seeds can germinate!  I'm
betting that it is that simple.

ross

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