EFFECTS OF ACCELERATED AGING ON VIABILITY, LEACHATE EXUDATION, AND FATTY-ACID CONTENT OF DALBERGIA-SISSOO ROXB SEEDS

Accelerated ageing of seeds of Dalbergia sissoo Roxb., a multi-purpose tropical legume tree, was effective as a vigour test only at temperat ures in excess of 43 degrees C for 72 h. Increased leakage of solutes accompanied the decrease in viability, but there was no relationship b etween seed size and conductivity. Analyses of D. sissoo lipids indica ted that palmitic acid was the most common saturated fatty acid and li noleic acid the most common unsaturated fatty acid. While total percen tages of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids varied little throughou t the course of the experiment, quantities of all individual fatty aci ds decreased during the ageing process.