EFFECTS OF AGING AND OSMOPRIMING ON GERMINATION CHARACTERISTICS AND CHROMOSOME-ABERRATIONS OF TOMATO (LYCOPERSICON-ESCULENTUM MILL) SEEDS

Artificial ageing of tomato seeds (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill., cv. Lerica), at both 40 degrees C/12.4% moisture content (MC) and 60 degre es C/7.1% MC, resulted in a significant decrease in seed quality as ev idenced by decreases in total germination, normal seedlings and the ra te and uniformity of germination. Cytological analyses showed that the decrease in seed quality by ageing correlated well with the increase in percentage aberrant anaphases in the root tips of thr seedlings, in dependent of ageing condition. Osmopriming partially counteracted the effects of ageing on germination rate, uniformity and normal seedlings , but did not influence the frequency of aberrant anaphases in root ti ps of the seedlings.