Enhancement of Gibberellin Activity by Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid in Celery Seeds and Embryoless Barley Seeds

Abstract

AbstractThe phytochrome‐controlled dormancy of celery seeds (Apium graveolens L.) can be broken by exogenously applied growth regulators. Gibberellins, especially the mixture of GA4 and GA7 appeared to be the primary stimuli for germination of darkincubated seeds. However, concentrations less than 1 mM were ineffective in replacing the light requirement in one celery cultivar (cv.Utah), and in another cultivar (cv.Lathom Blanching), concentrations above 1 mM were insufficient. The addition of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) to gibberellins, increased markedly their activity and reduced by several orders of magnitude the gibberellin concentrations needed to stimulate a light treatment. This synergistic activity is similar to the effect of benzyladenine (BA) or Succinic acid‐2,2‐dimethylhydrazide (SADH) when added to gibberellins. In a diverse plant system, the mixture of gibberellin with EDTA increased significantly the amount of reducing sugars released by embryoless barley seeds.