Abstract
BackgroundSeed viability monitoring is very important in ex situ germplasm preservation to detect germplasm deterioration. This requires seed-, time- and labor- saving methods with high precision to assess seed germination as viability. Although the current non-invasive, rapid, sensing methods (NRSs) are time- and labor-saving, they lack the precision and simplicity which are the virtues of traditional germination. Moreover, they consume a considerable amount of seeds to adjust sensed signals to germination percentage, which disregards the seed-saving objective. This becomes particularly severe for rare or endangered species whose seeds are already scarce. Here we propose a new method that is precise, low-invasive, simple, and quick, which involves analyzing the pattern of dehiscence (seed coat rupture), followed by embryonic protrusion.ResultsDehiscence proved simple to identify. After the trial of 20 treatments from 3 rice varieties, we recognized that dehiscence percentage at the 48th hour of germination (D(48)) correlates significantly with germination rate for tested seed lots. In addition, we found that the final germination percentage corresponded to D(48) plus 5. More than 70% of the seeds survived post-dehiscence desiccation for storage. Hydrogen peroxide (1 mM) as the solution for imbibition could further improve the survival. The method also worked quicker than tetrazolium which is honored as a fast, traditional method, in detecting less vigorous but viable seeds.ConclusionWe demonstrated the comprehensive virtues of dehiscence method in assessing rice seed: it is more precise and easier to use than NRSs and is faster and more seed-saving than traditional methods. We anticipate modifications including artificial intelligence to extend our method to increasingly diverse circumstances and species.
Highlights
Seed viability monitoring is very important in ex situ germplasm preservation to detect germplasm deterioration
Few NPB seeds at 24 h of germination protruded except for pre-harvest germination (PHG) seeds, which protruded much faster than the majority and were usually scorched in shoot (Fig. 3a)
PHG potentially affects seed desiccation tolerance (DT), and PHG seeds were no longer processed for subsequent desiccation or ageing once recognized
Summary
Seed viability monitoring is very important in ex situ germplasm preservation to detect germplasm deterioration. The current non-invasive, rapid, sensing methods (NRSs) are time- and labor-saving, they lack the precision and simplicity which are the virtues of traditional germination They consume a considerable amount of seeds to adjust sensed signals to germination percentage, which disregards the seed-saving objective. Masses of up-to-date research in this decade focus on the two problems, with the advantage described as either “non-invasive/non-destructive” (N) or “real-time/ rapid” (R), featured with sensing (S) apparatus (NRS method, NRSs) [14,15,16,17,18] They can be divided into four groups by the property of the signal they sense (Table 1). Even supposing advanced [24] or further research manages to precisely link signals and viability, unpredictable factors beyond experimental control such as species [22], variety, seed lot, physiological state [22], technical processes [24, 25, 27], and maternal environment [28] could bewilder testers
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