Peach Seed Dormancy in Relation to Endogenous Inhibitors and Applied Growth Substances1

Abstract

Abstract An inhibitor was present in both seed coat and embryo of a high and a low chilling cv. of unstratified peach seeds and its concn decreased as stratification proceeded, Embryonic tissue retained more of the inhibitor than the seed coat. As the concn of inhibitor decreased, seed germination increased. The inhibitor was tentatively identified as abscisic acid (ABA) by chromatography. A bound inhibitor was also present in the seed parts of both cvs., and its concn increased in the embryo as stratification proceeded. More ABA and bound inhibitor were present in the high-chilling cv. than in the low-chilling counterpart, indicating that they may be related as factors which cause a cv. to require long periods of chilling. Application of ABA reduced germination percentage on stratified seeds without seed coats. Application of gibberellic acid (GA) and N-benzyladenine (BA) combined had a synergistic effect in promoting germination of dormant seeds.