QUANTIFYING THE LOSS OF SEED VIABILITY UNDER VARIOUS STORAGE-CONDITIONS

Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seeds were stored for several years at 4 de grees C in hermetically sealed containers in a low-oxygen atmosphere. With another batch of seeds, accelerated aging was induced by storing the seeds for 30 days at 12, 22, or 37 degrees C. In all cases, a decr ease in germination percentage was accompanied by an enhancement of bo th delayed luminescence and electrolyte leakage from the seeds. Irresp ective of the storage regime, the initial unimodal distribution of see ds by a delayed luminescence level was transformed during storage into a multimodal one, with three major components corresponding to vigoro us, nonvigorous, and dead seeds. It is assumed that seed aging is a st epwise, rather than gradual, transition from the viable to the nonviab le state through an intermediate metastable state, which has been dete cted here for the first time. The dynamics of the structural transitio ns during seed aging can be monitored by measuring the intensity of th e delayed luminescence of seeds.