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Seed Damage Test
Name: Laura
Status: student
Grade: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
My question is:Is there a non-radioactive chemical I can
use to test the depth of tissue damage in bean seeds caused by extreme
cold? I am doing a science project on the effects of extreme cold on seeds,
and last year discovered that seeds frozen with dry ice for 24 hours grew
much faster than thier counterparts that hadn't been frozen. I hypothesized
that the freezing process only damages the testa (the outer part of the
seed), thereby making it easier for the seed to gather nutrients and set up
a root system. I need a chemical that can be used to test how deeply the
tissues were damaged, thereby proving or disproving my hypothesis. I've
already asked my science teacher, and the only chemical he could come up
with was radioactive, so I though I'd ask you.
Replies:
What I'd recommend here is to freeze more seeds than you are going to
plant. So you start with two groups of seeds, half of which you freeze and
half of which you don't. From each group of seeds, you plant some and cut
open the rest to inspect them. Perhaps you look at their cells under a
microscope, perhaps you stain them with some sort of dye. If you inspect
enough seeds from each group, you should be able to get a representative
sample of the seeds from each treatment, without having to directly inspect
the seeds you plant. You just have to make sure that the seeds you plant
and the seeds you cut open are the same in every other way - they were from
the same packet, they look about the same, they were all frozen in the same
way.
Richard Barrans Jr., Ph.D.
This site mentions a "seed stain test" to determine viability. Perhaps
helpful.
http://www.agr.state.nc.us/plantind/Seed/endo.htm
Anthony R. Brach, Ph.D.
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Update: June 2012
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