Most of the seeds that are of interest as crops, or as new gene sources to be kept in seed banks for future crop plant improvements, are at their highest germination potential in terms of vigour or viability when they have just matured on the parent plant. Maintained in a cool environment and in a dry state at less than 10% moisture content (MC), the lifespan of the embryo within the seed approaches the maximal; but every percentage increase in moisture during storage, coupled with a rise in temperature, lowers the integrity of the nuclear DNA and the performance of the embryo at germination. For each embryo, the balance for survival is struck between degradative and fragmentation events occurring during the length of time the seed is in storage, and the ability to repair or replace the accumulated damage once the seed is either planted or receives enoxigh water to become metabolically active.
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