Seed Dormancy and Early Events of Germination Ushahra Jyoti, PhD Scholars, Kaur Ritesh, PhD Scholars, Malik CP*, Professor School of Life Sciences, Jaipur National University, Jaipur-302017, Rajasthan, India *Email id: cpm_malik@yahoo.com
Online published on 25 December, 2013. Abstract Seed dormancy is generally an undesirable characteristic in agricultural crops, in which germination is blocked by seed-related mechanisms. This state can be persuaded by environmental and/or maternal effects during seed development or can consist of various mechanisms, which halt continued development at any one of the steps essential for seed germination (imbibition, activation of metabolism and visible growth). Hence, dormancy and germination are concurrent processes, since the dormant seed can progress to different stages in the germination sequence depending on the degree at which development is blocked. The transition between dormancy and germination represents an acute stage in the lifecycle of higher plants and is an important ecological and commercial attribute. The interaction between abscisic acid, gibberellins, brassinosteroids and ethylene play a major role in the regulatory network of germination and dormancy. In this review, we present an integrated view of dormancy and germination as concurrent processes, hormone interactions and novel techniques for studying early seed germination. Top Keywords ABA, BR, Dormancy, Ethylene, GA, Germination. Top |