in this paper, a very efficient method, called single matrix block analyzer (smba), has been developed to determine relative permeability and capillary pressure curves from spontaneous imbibition (si) data. smba mimics realistically the si tests by appropriate boundary conditions modeling. in the proposed method, a cuboid with an identical core plug height is considered. the equal dimensions of...

Phytochrome has been shown to be involved in the germination of seeds of a number of pine species as determined by the responses of these seeds to red and far-red irradiations (4, 7, 9). Nyman (7) found that even before imbibition, germination of Pinits silvestris seeds can be promoted by red irradiation. McLemore (5) found that germination of longleaf pine seed (P. palustris) can be repeatedly...

We report the influence of the nature of boundaries on the dynamics of wetting. We review some work recently published and highlight new experimental observations. Our paper begins with the spreading of drops on substrates and demonstrates how the exponents of the spreading laws are affected either by the surface chemistry or by the droplet shape. We then discuss the imbibition of completely an...

Development of mitochondrial activities in pea cotyledons during early times after the start of imbibition occurred in two phases. In the first phase (0 to 8 hours after the start of imbibition), succinate or NADH oxidation increased rapidly, while malate or alpha-ketoglutarate oxidation remained low. The latter activities developed only 8 to 12 hours after the start of imbibition (the second p...

Computations of the relative permeability curves were made through their representation by two functions for wetting and nonwetting phases. Each function contains one parameter that controls shape curves. The values these parameters are chosen to minimize an objective function, is represented as a weighted sum squared differences between experimentally measured data corresponding calculated mat...

Pink-pigmented facultatively methylotrophic bacteria (PPFMs), persistent colonizers of plant leaf surfaces, belong to the genus Methylobacterium and are mostly transmitted through seeds. Plant growth-promoting activity of methylotrophic bacteria and their effects on disease suppression were evaluated on rice under greenhouse conditions. Rice seeds were inoculated with Methylobacterium sp. strai...

Understanding colloid mobilization during transient flow in soil is important for addressing colloid and contaminant transport issues. While theoretical descriptions of colloid detachment exist for saturated systems, corresponding mechanisms of colloid mobilization during drainage and imbibition have not been considered in detail. In this work, theoretical force and torque analyses were perform...

Seedling growth of mung bean is accompanied by the rapid catabolism of the three major phospholipids in the cotyledons (phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphatidylinositol). The decline starts 24 hours after the beginning of imbibition and by the 4th day of growth more than 50% of the phospholipids have been catabolized. Extracts of cotyledons of 24-hour-imbibed beans contai...

Experiments with lettuce seeds during the first hours of imbibition showed that oxygen is necessary to sustain high adenine nucleotide ratios and consequently, energy charge values are higher than 0.8 as is usually the case in normally metabolizing tissues.The energy charge value (0.2) of dry seeds soaked in aerated water increased to normal values (0.8) within 30 minutes. The energy charge val...

Drought and salinity are severe and wide-ranging abiotic stresses that substantially affect crop germination, development and productivity, and seed germination is the first critical step in plant growth and development. To comprehensively investigate small-RNA targets and improve our understanding of miRNA-mediated post-transcriptional regulation networks during Brassica napus seed imbibition ...