Effects of Stratification and Hormone Treatments on Germination and Physio-Biochemical Properties of <i>Taxus chinensis var. mairei</i> Seed

Abstract

In order to learn dormancy mechanism of Taxtts chinensis var. mairei seed, effects of stratification and hormone treatments on physiological and biochemical indexes of the seeds after stratifying for eight months were researched. The content of amylase activity and soluble sugar gradually increased at first stratification, and then to the maximum for the end of after-ripening period. With the dormancy of seed relieving, some soluble sugar of endosperm was used or consumed by respiration and that led to their content decreased. Seed soluble protein was gradually accumulated at the beginning of stratification and then the initial raw material of protein synthesis of embryo during development had been used or in part converted into carbohydrates for energy consumption, so that the soluble protein content decreased. The fat and starch content slowly decreased during stratification, which showed that the storage of material had continually carrying out catabolism and conversion, which might provide energy sources for seed germination in the stratification process. The peroxidase activity of Taxus seeds increased gradually at the beginning of stratification, and then reached maximum point during stratification for 4 months in A1 and A2. The G-6-PDH and 6-PGDH joint activity was rapidly increased to reach the maximum during stratification for 4 months in A1, which showed the pentose phosphate pathway was activated at this time. The peroxidase activity rapidly increased might also be related to respiratory metabolic pathway during stratification. In plants, acid phosphatase hydrolyze PAM metabolites, namely phosphate material was related to energy metabolism, especially to high-energy phosphate, and phosphate enzyme activity changes affected the energy metabolism. The acid phosphatase activity of Taxus seeds in different treatments has no significant changes during stratification process, but there were two maximums. Energy metabolism might get benefit from the increase of acid phosphatase activity. There were significant differences in amylase activity, peroxidase activity, soluble sugar and soluble protein content with different treatments. Effect of promoting seed germination soaked by GA before stratification was obvious, but the concentration of GA should not be too high. The high concentration of GA caused seed to rot and reduce the seed germination rate. In this study, the highest germination rate of seed was 71.8% and soaked in 200 mg·L -1 gibberellin.