BACKGROUND AND AIMS Pathogen-seed interactions may involve a race for seed resources, so that seeds that germinate more quickly, mobilizing reserves, will be more likely to escape seed death than slow-germinating seeds. This race-for-survival hypothesis was tested for the North American seed pathogen Pyrenophora semeniperda on seeds of the annual grass Bromus tectorum, an invasive plant in Nort...

The exotic vine Vincetoxicum rossicum (Kleopow) Barbar. (Asclepiadaceae) is a major natural-areas pest throughout the Great Lakes Basin. Colonization of new areas by this herbaceous perennial occurs by comose wind-dispersed seeds. Previous experiments suggested a trade-off between seed dispersability and seed quality: smaller seeds dispersed farther but were less likely to emerge and seedlings ...

Time-dependent aftereffect induced by γ-radiation in dry pea seeds at non-lethal 0.19–10 Gy doses is considered. By using phosphorescence at room temperature (RTP), seed lot was fractionated to strong and weak seeds producing normal and abnormal seedlings, respectively, and to dead seeds. After 0.19 Gy γ-radiation, strong seeds transformed to weak seeds during two months, whereas seeds after 7–...

Irradiated pollen technique is the most successful haploidization technique within Cucurbitaceae. After harvesting of fruits pollinated with irradiated pollen, classical method called as "inspecting the seeds one by one" is used to find haploid embryos in the seeds. In this study, different methods were used to extract the embryos more easily, quickly, economically, and effectively. "Inspecting...

Seed size is a plastic trait of the plants that directly affect seed germination and seedling recruitment. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between seed size, seed germinability and seedling performance of Copaifera langsdorffii by testing four hypotheses: 1) larger seeds have higher germination percentage; 2) smaller seeds require less time to germinate and for initial developm...

Finch H., Allen P., Meyer S. (2013): Exposure to low water potentials and seed dormancy favour the fungus in the Pyrenophora semeniperda–Bromus tectorum pathosystem. Plant Protect. Sci., 49 (Special Issue): S15–S20. In semi-arid regions of the United States, Pyrenophora semeniperda kills seeds of the winter annual Bromus tectorum. We report on pathosystem outcomes under manipulated water potent...

—We documented black bears (Ursus americanus) consuming the seeds of Jeffery pine (Pinus jeffreyi) in the eastern Sierra Nevada from late August through September. Shells of pine seeds were the exclusive item in 20 of 27 scat samples collected in September and October and comprised >90% of the remaining 7 samples. Bears obtain seeds of Jeffrey pines by climbing trees, removing ripe, unopened co...

In the present study, the effect of some pre-treatments implemented on seeds of Oriental hornbeam (Carpinus orientalis), which has wide geographical variation along Turkey on germination percentage values were investigated. For this purpose, 13 different pre-treatments were implemented to seeds obtained from 17 different populations. According to the obtained results (except control seeds), pre...

Changes in the levels of thiamin-binding globulin and thiamin in wheat seeds during maturation and germination were studied. The thiamin-binding activity of the seed proteins increased with seed development after flowering. The thiamin content of the seeds also increased with development. Thiamin-binding activity decreased during seed germination. On the other hand, immunological analysis using...

The aims of this study are to determine and compare the antioxidant levels and activities (i.e. primary and secondary) between selected seeds of Malaysian tropical fruits - guava (Psidium guajava), mango (Mangifera indica L.) and papaya (Carica papaya L.). Seeds are among byproducts from the processing of fruitsbased products. Instead of discarding seeds as waste, seeds with high potential as a...