Adenylate content and the energy charge as related to seedling growth in inbred strains

ATP level in imbibed seeds of rape, annual ryegrass and crimson clover was shown to correlate with the rate of subsequent seedling growth and presumed to represent a convenient biochemical index of seedling vigour (T. M. Ching, Plant Physiol. 51:400, 1973). Therefore we have screened inbred strains for maximal and minimal growth rates of the seedling primary root and compared these values with adenylate levels in the scutella of air-dry kernels in four selected inbreds (Table 1). Rapidly and slowly-growing strains could not be distinguished by their ATP content and the energy charge values, while ADP content was 2-3-fold in the small-scutellum inbreds irrespective of the seedling vigour.

Table 1.

I. V. Zeleneva, E. V. Savostianova and G. G. Giulverdieva


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