BGN 9: Relationship between loss of germinability and the occurrence of chromosomal aberrations in artifically aged seeds of barley BARLEY GENETICS NEWSLETTER, VOL. 9, II. RESEARCH NOTES
Murata et al., pp. 65-67

II. 32. Relationship between loss of germinability and the occurrence of chromosomal aberrations in artifically aged seeds of barley.

M. Murata*, E.E. Roos**, and T. Tsuchiya*. *Department of Agronomy, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, and **National Seed Storage Laboratory, USDA-SEA-AR, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523.

In a previous paper (Murata et al., 1978), we reported that in artificially aged (38 C - 18% seed moisture content) barley seeds the frequency of chromosomal aberrations observed at first mitosis increased as storage time increased and germination percentage decreased. The present paper extends these results to three additional storage conditions to further demonstrate the relationship between germination percentage and frequency of aberrant anaphases (Table 1). The material (seeds of Hordeum vulgare cv. Himalaya) and methods used were those of the previous investigation except that the staining solution was alcoholic hydrochloric acid-carmine (Snow, 1963), which stains the cytoplasm lightly.

Table 1. Storage conditions and storage time used in this study.

In all four storage conditions, the germination percentages decreased with increased storage time. The rate of decline in germination increased as temperature and/or moisture content of the seeds increased. Storage time needed for reduction of germination 18% moisture content seeds to 50% was 12 days at 38 C and 21 days at 32 C. For 12% moisture seed, 60 days at 38 C and 120 days at 32 C were required to reduce germination to 50%.

As previously reported (Murata et al., 1978), the frequency of aberrant anaphases in seeds in the 38 C - 18% condition increased rapidly as the storage time increased up to 16 days. The patterns of increase in aberrant anaphases observed in the other three storage conditions were similar which indicated a negative correlation between germination percentage and frequency of aberrant anaphases. The linear regressions of aberrant anaphases (%) to germination (%) were calculated in each of four different conditions (Figure 1). There were no significant differences among the four regression lines. Similar associations between germination and chromosomal aberrations have been reported previously (Roberts et al., 1967, Abdalla and Roberts, 1968). These authors reported that the maximum value for the frequency of aberrant cells in aged barley seeds was about 4% which is in close agreement with our value of 6%.

Figure 1. The linear regression lines of aberrant anaphases (%) to germination (%) in four different storage conditions.

References:

Abdalla, F.H. and E.H. Roberts. 1968. Effects of temperature, moisture, and oxygen on the induction of chromosome damage in seeds of barley, broad beans, and peas during storage. Ann. Bot. 32:119-136.

Murata, M., T. Tsuchiya, and E.E. Roos. 1978. Mitotic chromosomal aberrations in barley induced by accelerated seed aging. BGN 8:79-82.

Roberts. E.H., F.H. Abdalla, and R.J. Owen. 1967. Nuclear damage and the aging of seeds with a model for survival curves. Symp. Soc. Exp. Biol. 21:65-100.

Snow, R. 1963. Alcoholic hydrochloric acid-carmine as a stain for chromosomes in squash preparations. Stain Technology 38:9-13.

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