The interaction of abscisic acid with growth stimulators in germination of partially after-ripened apple embryos

Abstract

The effect of abscisic acid (ABA), gibberellin A4+7 and benzyladenine on germination of apple embryos which had been stratified for different periods of time was investigated.The growth stimulators accelerated the germination of non-stratified embryos or those stratified for a short time. After a longer period of stratification, the effect of growth stimulators was visible only when germination of the embryos was artificially inhibited by simultaneous application of synthetic ABA.The sensitivity of stratified apple embryos to the exogenous ABA diminished with the number of hours elapsed between the imbibiting by the embryos of the water or gibberellin and the application of the ABA.This was similar to the change in the sensitivity of apple embryos during stratification due to the increasing concentrations of ABA.