Germination of Tea Seeds (Part 3)

Abstract

An abnormal thickening growth of plumule in tea seeds has been observed for several years on the germination bed which was warmed up artificially in order to accelerate the seed germination.The leaf primordium of this plumule is white and grows abnormally and loses the function of cell division.A series of experiments was carried out with regard to the abnormal thickening of plumule varied with the varieties used, storage and germination temperature, pre-treatment of seed coat, gibberellin (GA) and indole acetic acid (IAA) treatment, etc.It was confirmed that the abnormal growth was caused by a high temperature on the seed bed and also more or less affected by storage temperature. The varietal difference was observed in the rate of occurrence of the abnormal plumule too. The removal of the seed coat and IAA treatment, however, did not influence the occurrence of the thickened plumule.It was found that the abnormal growth was perfectly cheched by the GA pre-treatment, even though the germination temperature was high.From the results, it was concluded that the seed bed for tea plant should be always kept under 25°C, and the GA per-treatment was very useful for checking the abnormal growth.