C. Gurusamy et Cp. Thiagarajan, The pattern of seed development and maturation in cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis), PHYTON AUST, 38(2), 1998, pp. 259-268
The physical, physiological and biochemical changes in developing seeds of
cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var, botrytis) cultivar Kibo Giant were f
ollowed from 7 days after anthesis up to maturity, grown under field condit
ions. Silique growth and weight, seed weight, germination capacity and spee
d, seedling length and dry weight, dehydrogenase activity, protein and oil
accumulation followed almost a sigmoidal pattern. Seeds started precocious
germination from 28 days after anthesis onwards. Cell membrane integrity in
creased with the advancement of seed maturity. Dehydrogenase activity corre
lated positively with seed quality and seedling vigour, and negatively with
seed moisture content. A significant amount of oil accumulation started la
ter than protein, but continued even after protein accumulation ceased. Whi
le protein accumulation slowed down earlier, oil accumulation continued up
to harvest. The best time to harvest the seed crop was within a week after
physiological maturity (49 days after anthesis), which identified visually
by change in colour of siliques and seeds from green to pinkish yellow and
brown, respectively.