Adverse Photosensitive Growth Behaviour of Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum): Seedlings germinated on cesium chloride

Abstract

Hypocotyls of tomato seedlings germinated in the light on the alkali chloride salt CsCl appeared as though they had been attacked by a virulent pathogen or wilt disease. In the dark-germinated CsCl-treated plants, the hypocotyls were of the same appearance as those of the water control seedlings. The roots of both the light- and dark-germinated seedlings on CsCl were of normal white appearance but very short compared with the root lengths of the light- and dark-germinated water control plants. Evidence is presented which demonstrates that the Cs+ cation was responsible for the adverse photosensitive growth behaviour of the hypocotyls of the light-germinated seedlings.