Seed research for improved technologies

Abstract

The production of high-quality seed is the basis for a durable a profitable agriculture. After production, seed is processed, conditioned, stored, shipped and germinated. For quality assurance, seed quality has to be controlled at all steps of the production chain. Seed functioning is accompanied by programmed transitions from cell proliferation to quiescence upon maturation and from quiescence to reinitiation of cellular metabolism upon imbibition. Despite the obvious importance of these control mechanisms, very little information is available at the molecular level concerning those elements that regulate seed germination. In the present study, the induction of cell cycle activity and the regulation of ß-tubulin expression is related to the water content and other physical properties of the seed.

Seed Quality and LEA-protein Expression in Relation to Fruit Maturation and Post-harvest Storage of Two Chilies Types

“…Using high quality seeds is a basic requirement for profitable crop production. During seed development there is an optimal moment for harvesting to obtain seeds with the best attributes (Bino et al, 1998;Doijode, 2001). In orthodox seeds, the formation of structures and the acquisition of other characteristics is divided into three phases during seed development: i) histodifferentiation and cell expansion, ii) accumulation of reserves, and iii) acquisition of tolerance to desiccation (Otho et al, 2007).…”