Effect of light quality and oxygen availability on germination and CO2 evolution of Amaranthus retroflexus L. seeds.

摘要

A. retroflexus seed germination was shown to be triggered by red light irradiation and inhibited by blue and far-red light. Hypoxia strongly reduced germination, above all in the presence of blue light. However, inhibition under blue light was removed by seed incubation under non-limiting oxygen conditions (100%), whereas inhibition was maintained by far-red incubation. This suggested a close relation between the activity of blue light and oxygen availability. CO2 evolution during incubation underthe different light qualities showed an absence of relation between blue light and the respiratory (and fermentation) processes preceding germination.