Alkaline phytase activity, with a pH optimum of 8, was recovered from detergent extracts of dormant seeds of nine varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris L., Pisum sativum L. var. Early Alaska, and Medicago sativa L. This alkaline phytase of legume seeds was activated by calcium and differed from most seed phytases in its relative insensitivity to inhibition by fluoride.

Production of heteromorphic seeds is common in halophytes growing in arid environments with strong spatial and temporal heterogeneity. However, evidence for geographic variation (reflecting local adaptation) is almost nonexistent. Our primary aims were to compare the life history traits of two desert populations of this halophytic summer annual Suaeda corniculata subsp. mongolica and to investi...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Parkinsonia aculeata (Caesalpinaceae) is a perennial legume with seeds that have hard-seeded (physical) dormancy and are potentially very long-lived. Seed dormancy is a characteristic that can both help maximize the probability of seedling establishment and spread the risk of recruitment failure across years (bet-hedging). In this study, dormancy-release patterns are describ...

Carex divisa is a patrimonial rhizomatous species and acts as an important component of grazed wet permanent grassland on the French Atlantic coast. This study treated three storage regimes (wet-cold, dry-cold and dry-warm), burial in soil, fluctuating temperature and salinity on seed germination of C. divisa. The seeds were dormant at maturity. No seed germinated after 2 and 6 weeks of dry sto...

galbanum (ferula gummosa bioss) is a medicinal, commercial and industrial plant in iran but its cultivation is restricted by seed dormancy. therefore, a study was conducted to determine class and environmental requirements for breaking of seed dormancy. during imbibition study, both scarified and intact seeds exhibited similar pattern in water uptake and it seems there is not physical dormancy....

Seeds consist of encapsulated plant embryos in a highly resistant and desiccated state. Seeds enhance plant fitness by allowing plants to withhold their growth until the appearance of appropriate environmental conditions. Thereupon, seeds germinate, allowing the resumption of the plant’s life cycle. However, protection and propagation is not expected per se to confer fitness without germination...