Germination of rice seeds as influenced by short-day treatment given during the growth period of plants.

Abstract

This experiment was carried out in order to ascertain the after-effect of short-day treatment given during the growth period of rice plant on the germination of seeds produced on the treated plants. The results obtained are summarized as follows: 1. Seeds obtained from the treated plants gave faster germination than the control seeds, especially at low temperature condition. 2. The rate of seedling growth was higher in the seeds from treated plants than control seeds under illuminated condition, while the difference was disappeared at the late late stage of seedling growth in darkness. 3. Under illuminated condition, seedlings grown from the treated plants showed a higher respones to gibberellin applied to the seedlings, giving remarkable shoot elongation, than the seedlings grown from the control seeds, white in darkness this difference in the response to gibberellin was not clear. 4. The weight of seeds from the treated plants was slightly lighter than that of control seeds. The weight of embryo, hawever, was considerably heavier than that of control seeds. Content of nitrogen, phosphorous and total sugar of seeds was higher with the seeds from the treated plants than with the control seeds. 5. The rate of respiration during the germination of seeds from treated plants were as high as double of that of control seeds. As a result of this experiment, it was comfirmed that the shrot-day treatment given during the growth period of plants appears to manifest some effect on the seed development, and concequently on the germination of seeds.