Seed priming: the aftermath (original) (raw)
Priming of seeds is a well-established technology to improve speed and uniformity of germination, however at the cost of a reduction in longevity of seeds. Furthermore, priming alone is not able to drastically improve the number of usable plants from a batch of seeds. Pregermination, in combination with selection of seeds showing the earliest germination, can improve the number of usable plants considerably. However, it is not easy to find a suitable separation method for every species. Two major obstacles for practical use of pregerminated seeds are storage of the seeds and finding a way of drilling them. The fluid drilling technique finds some solution to this problem. A breakthrough in the practical application of pregerminated seeds was the development of a method to re-induce desiccation tolerance in seeds after they had germinated.The effects of PEG incubation and Heat Shock are quite promising for both pregerminated seeds as well as primed ones. The role of LEAs, HSPs, sugars, BiP, compatible solutes etc. are important in the re-acquisition of desiccation tolerance. Most biophysical investigations concerning anhydrobiosis in plants have been focused on phenomena in the dried state. Considering that desiccation-sensitive organisms usually die when the water content is still relatively high [e.g. 0.5-2.0 (gH2O) (g dry weight) −1 ], future research should be aimed at mechanisms of protection that operate in this particular range of water contents. Pressing goals for future research are the understanding of the mechanism of protection by LEAs and HSPs in vivo, and how cells cope with membrane destabilization as a result of partitioned amphiphiles. Ideally, the relatively simple system of priming of seeds could be combined with methods to separate vigorous from lower vigor seeds. To reach this goal, more research needs to be done in characterizing seeds of high and low quality to allow separation before or after priming treatment.
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