Studies on Storage of Seed in Organic Solvent. : I. Some Fundamental Tests to Establish the Method for the Storage of Seed in Organic Solvent

Abstract

Germination ability of seeds soaked in various organic solvents was studied in seven species to establish the method for storage of seed in organic solvent. 1) In Raphalnus sativus, seeds soaked in anhy-drous acetone and ethanol for 7 days germinated well, but those soaked in acetone or ethanol con-taning water lost the ability to germinate. For example, seeds soaked in 90% ethanol did not ger-minate at all, but 26% seeds germinated when they were soaked in 95% ethanol (Fig.1). 2) Seeds of Raphaceus sativus, Zea mays, Aster novi-belggi and Oryza sativa had fairly high heat-resistance, e.g. seeds of these species put in an oven and kept at 65°C for 60 minutes germinated as well as untreated seeds as shown in Fig.2. These results suggest that the seeds soaked in organic solvents can be dried in hot condition without injury. 3) Length of heating time needed to volatile solvent from the soaked seeds differd with plant species and the kind of solvent. Seeds soaked in ethyl ether needed 20 minutes in Zea mays and needed 40-50 minutes in Oryza sativa to volatile ether at 45°C (Fig.3). 4) Germination ability of seeds soaked in many organic solvents was tested and compared in four species. Seeds soaked in 32 solvents for 7 days retained the ability to germinate and the seeds soaked in benzene, n-hexane, n-pentane, toluene, carbon tetrachloride, ethyl ether, ethyl acetate, methyl ethyl ketone and acetonitril usually germi-nated better than unsoaked seeds as shown in Table I.