Seeds and Germination

Abstract

The fundamental importance of germination physiology to agriculture and horticulture is so obvious that it need hardly be stated, for almost all of man’s reliance on plants depends on the germinability of their seeds. The most straightforward dependence is when seeds are the starting materials for crops; in this case, we require that the seeds have high viability, that their level of germination is high (and therefore that they have no dormancy, at least under the conditions experienced during cultivation), and that germination is uniform so as to produce vigorous plants closely similar in their stage of growth. All these requirements concern aspects of seed physiology and biochemistry that have been covered in previous chapters. Also critical, especially when seeds are used directly as human or animal food, are the events occurring during seed development and maturation when the seeds’ storage reserves are deposited, for the processes taking place then govern the quality and amount of materials that are nutritionally important (Section 2.2).