ABSTRACT
Understanding of the physiology of sprouting can be rapidly advanced by the use of genetic variation for identifying component processes of sprouting. In celery, breeding against bolting led to greater seed dormancy. This chapter considers three aspects of dormancy maintenance: physical barriers, chemical controls and metabolic regulation. Efforts to produce more marketable seed, fruit or other products repeatedly highlight the inadequacies of physiological understanding of germination. In tomato, sprouting inadvertently became a problem in a line bred for high yield for once-over harvesting of canning fruit. In cereals, selection for high-protein and vigorous seed may have favoured sprouting as must the rapid turnaround between harvest and resowing of seed which is common practice. Effects of environment on sprouting probably involve complex changes. The explanation proposed was that nitrate, a germination promoter, had built up in the low molybdenum kernels and, as predicted, application of nitrogenous fertilizer exacerbated the sprouting problem.
