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AOBPreview published online on December 19, 2008
Annals of Botany, doi:10.1093/aob/mcn240
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

A proposed mechanism for physical dormancy break in seeds of Ipomoea lacunosa (Convolvulaceae)

K. M. G. Gehan Jayasuriya1,{dagger}, Jerry M. Baskin1, Robert L. Geneve2 and Carol C. Baskin1,3,*

1 Department of Biology
2 Department of Horticulture
3 Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546, USA

* For correspondence. E-mail ccbask0{at}uky.edu

Received: 3 July 2008    Returned for revision: 12 August 2008    Accepted: 4 November 2008   

Background and Aims: The water-impermeable seeds of Ipomoea lacunosa undergo sensitivity cycling to dormancy breaking treatment, and slits are formed around bulges adjacent to the micropyle during dormancy break, i.e. the water gap opens. The primary aim of this research was to identify the mechanism of slit formation in seeds of this species.

Methods: Sensitive seeds were incubated at various combinations of relative humidity (RH) and temperature after blocking the hilar area in different places. Increase in seed mass was measured before and after incubation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and staining of insensitive and sensitive seeds were carried out to characterize these states morphologically and anatomically. Water absorption was monitored at 35 and 25 °C at 100 % RH.

Key Results: There was a significant relationship between incubation temperature and RH with percentage seed dormancy break. Sensitive seeds absorbed water vapour, but insensitive seeds did not. Different amounts of water were absorbed by seeds with different blocking treatments. There was a significant relationship between dormancy break and the amount of water absorbed during incubation.

Conclusions: Water vapour seals openings that allow it to escape from seeds and causes pressure to develop below the bulge, thereby causing slits to form. A model for the mechanism of formation of slits (physical dormancy break) is proposed.

Key words: Convolvulaceae, Ipomoea lacunosa, dormancy-breaking mechanism, physical dormancy, seeds, sensitivity cycling, water vapour

{dagger} Present address: Department of Botany, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka


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