• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.331-339
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• 2015

This research was performed to determine the temperature requirements for embryo growth and radicle emergence of Hepatica asiatica Nakai, a perennial herb native to Korea. Seed viability, embryo growth, and radicle emergence were monitored in seeds exposed to various temperatures (10, 15, $20^{\circ}C$ and $30{\rightarrow}15^{\circ}C$). Laboratory experiments at various temperatures revealed that (1) embryo elongation occurred effectively between 10 and $15^{\circ}C$; (2) radicle emergence occurred only at $15^{\circ}C$; (3) a warm stratification (2-8 weeks at $30^{\circ}C$) was not required for embryo elongation and radicle emergence, and led to inhibition of radicle emergence; (4) application of gibberellic acid ($GA_3$) promoted embryo growth, but not radicle emergence. These results suggested that H. asiatica seeds have two separate mechanisms to overcome dormancy, either by $GA_3$ (morphological dormancy) or temperature (physiological dormancy), and warm stratification is not involved in breaking radicle dormancy. These findings indicate that H. asiatica seeds have morphophysiological dormancy.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.339-346
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• 2016

This study was carried out to develop an effective seed propagation method for Thalictrum rochebrunianum var. grandisepalum (H. Lev.) Nakai by analyzing seed dormancy types and germination characteristics. Seeds were collected between September to October at Gangwon province, and well-selected seeds were used while being dry-stored at 4±1℃. The seed size ranged 4.52 × 1.58 ㎜ and the weight of thousand seeds were 1,603.5 ± 0.02 ㎎. The moisture content was 7.2%. Seeds were achene type, and morphology characters showed an elliptical shape and rough texture, and light brown in color. Moist-chilling treatment was conducted for dormancy breaking because the seeds had an undeveloped embryo of liner type. The embryo had developed during a moist-chilling period, constantly, and fully developed in 10 weeks. Consequently, it seemed to be non-deep complex or intermediate complex type of morphophysiological dormancy, and embryo dormancy was broken by wet-chilling for 10 weeks. After 10 weeks of wet-chilling treatment, seed germination began. Germination percentage was higher in dark condition raher than light condition and recorded the maximum at 25℃ in the dark (16.3%). A pre-soaking treatment with a combined plant growth hormones promoted germination and shortened T₅₀. Specifically, seed germination of 84.5% was achieved by pre-soaking of seeds with a combined solution of 500 ㎎/L GA₃ and 10 ㎎/L kinetin for 24 h after a wet-chilling treatment for 10 weeks. Thus the effect of plant growth hormones coupled with chilling temperature on seed breaking dormancy provide asubsequent growth of seedlings for successful plantation.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.550-557
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• 2014

Heloniopsis koreana and Heloniopsis tubiflora (Melanthiaceae) are endemic herbaceous species of the Korean Peninsula. The Melanthiaceae family has been described as having seeds with small, underdeveloped embryos at the time of dispersal, and morphological (MD) or morphophysiological dormancy (MPD). However, there are few reports on embryo growth, morphology, and seed germination in Heloniopsis species. The aims of this study were to investigate embryo growth and seed dormancy, and to determine the type of dormancy exhibited by these species. The effects of incubation temperatures, light conditions, and gibberellic acid ($GA_3$) on dormancy break and seed germination were tested. Freshly matured seeds of the two species had small embryos that occupied about 9-11% of the length of the endosperm, and which increased by more than 300% in length before radicle emergence, indicating that the embryos are underdeveloped at the time of dispersal. Embryos in the seeds grew under warm temperature regimes (between $25/15^{\circ}C$ and $30/20^{\circ}C$). $GA_3$ application (tested only in the light) overcame seed dormancy and promoted germination. Approximately 30% of the seeds of H. koreana and approximately 40% of the seeds of H. tubiflora germinated in suitable environmental conditions (light and temperature) within 4 weeks. Therefore, 30-40% of the seeds of the two species exhibited MD, and the rest of the seeds had non-deep simple MPD. Light was found to be one of the critical factors for germination because no seed of either of the two Heloniopsis species germinated under constant dark conditions, and thus, these species have the potential to form a persistent soil seed bank. Understanding these germination requirements will help in development of effective strategies to increase the establishment of seedlings in their native habitat.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.75-80
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• 2005

Eleutherococcus senticosus (also called Acanthopanax senticosus), belonging to Araliaceae family, has been used as an important medicinal woody plant. Mature seeds of Eleutherococcus senticosus have rudimentary (extremely immature) zygotic embryos and require a long-term stratification for about 18 months to induce germination. Here, through the methods of endosperm removal and other exogenous treatments, we investigated the factors for inducing rudimentary embryos by in vitro culture, Rudimentary zygotic embryos in seeds were at globular to heart-shaped stage at about $250{\mu}m$ in length just after harvest of fruits. When the seeds without testa were cultured on 1/2 MS (Murashige and Skoog 1962) medium, they did not germinate regardless of medium and sucrose concentrations but the removal of endosperm tissue markedly stimulated the growth of rudimentary zygotic embryos. The embryo reached ear-lier maturation, once when the endosperm surrounding the rudimentary embryos was removed. Rudimentary zygotic embryos developed cotyledons within 3 weeks of culture after endosperm emoval. However, post-mature zygotic embryos failed to germinate though they were morphologically normal, indicating another dormancy of embryos. $GA_3\;(2.0\;\cal{mg/L})$ and/or charcoal ($0.2\%$) treatment rapidly enhanced the germination of zygotic embryos. These results suggest that E. senticosus seeds have double dormancy; i. e. morphological rudimentary dormancy influenced by surrounding endosperm and physiological dormancy after post-maturation of zygotic embryos. Based on the above findings, we established the rapid germination of rudimentary zygotic embryos by in vitro culture of excised seeds with endosperm removal and $GA_3$ treatment.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.254-262
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• 2019

Background: To exploit the ornamental and medicinal purposes of Lonicera harae Makino, L. subsessilis Rehder, L. praeflorens Batalin, and L. insularis Nakai, native to Korea, it is necessary to understand their seed ecology for propagation. In this study, we investigated the seed dormancy type and germination characteristics of seeds of the four Korean native Lonicera species. Results: The seeds of the four Lonicera species imbibed water readily, suggesting that the species do not have physical dormancy. Furthermore, the seeds exhibited underdeveloped embryos with only about 15-25% of the length of the seeds at dispersal. The embryos grew to the critical length with approximately 50-80% of the length of the seeds' development before radicle protrusion. Further, 94.4% and 61.1% of freshly matured seeds of L. insularis and L. harae germinated within 4 weeks after sowing at 15 ℃ and 20 ℃, respectively. Contrarily, L. praeflorens and L. subsessilis seeds did not germinate within 4 weeks under all temperature treatments. At 15 ℃, L. praeflorens seeds started to germinate from 5 weeks and the final germination rate was 51.1% at 13 weeks. At 15 ℃, L. subsessilis seeds started to germinate from 5 weeks after sowing and the final germination rate was 85.6% at 17 weeks after sowing. Embryo growth and germination of L. praeflorens and L. subsessilis occurred at a relatively high temperature (≥ 15 ℃). Conclusions: Overall, L. insularis seeds have only morphological dormancy. The seeds of L. harae have approximately 60% and 40% of morphological dormancy and morphophysiological dormancy, respectively. Contrarily, L. praeflorens and L. subsessilis exhibited non-deep simple-type morphophysiological dormancy that requires relatively high temperature (≥ 15 ℃) for embryo growth and dormancy breaking. The optimum temperature for the germination of seeds of L. insularis, L. harae, L. praeflorens, and L. subsessilis was 15 ℃, 20 ℃, 15 ℃, and 20 ℃, respectively. There was interspecific variation in seed dormancy and germination patterns in the four Lonicera species. The difference in these characteristics within the four Lonicera species could be useful for understanding the seed ecophysiological mechanisms of Lonicera species.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.167-170
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• 2001

Experiments were conducted to study the optimum chilling period for breaking physiological dormancy of dehisced ginseng(Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) seed. Embryo of ginseng seed is too small to be noticed with naked eyed on harvesting time. Embryo grew to half size of endosperm after seeds were stratified for 3 months. It takes 6 months for this embryo to reach the size enough for germination. And it grew faster indoors than outdoors. Dehisced ginseng seed with full-size embryo did not germinate at room temperature and required chilling treatment for 75days in outdoors and 90 days in cold chamber. While seed receiving sufficient chilling treatment were left to be in room temperature, the chilling effect decreased remarkably.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2023.04a
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• pp.157-157
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• 2023

Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) in rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the main problems associated with seed dormancy. PHS causes yield loss and reduction of grain quality under unpredictable humid conditions at the ripening stage, thus affecting the economic value of the rice crop. To resolve this issue, it is important to understand the molecular mechanism underlying seed dormancy in rice. Recent studies have shown that seed dormancy is affected by a large number of genes associated with plant hormones. However, the effect of heat stress on seed dormancy and plant hormones is not well understood. In this study, we compared the PHS rate as well as the transcriptome and small RNAome of the seed embryo and endosperm of two different accessions of rice, PHS-susceptible rice (low dormancy) and PHS-resistant rice (high dormancy) under three different maturation stages. We identified and verified the candidate genes associated with seed dormancy and heat stress-related responses in rice using quantitative real-time PCR. We newly discovered hormone-related genes, heat shock protein-related genes, and miRNAs potentially involved in PHS. These findings provide a foundation for understanding the dynamics of transcriptome and small RNAome of hormone- and heat stress-related genes, which affect PHS during seed maturation.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.457-462
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• 2019

This study was conducted to investigate seed dormancy type and germination characteristics of Lonicera chrysantha. In imbibition test, the seeds imbibed water readily. Therefore, the seeds did not have physical dormancy (PY). The seeds have undeveloped embryo at seed dispersal and, then the E:S ratio (embryo/seed ratio) increased more than about 46% just before germination. In temperature experiments (5, 15, 20 and $25^{\circ}C$), the seeds did not germinate during incubation at $5^{\circ}C$. At $20^{\circ}C$, the seeds started to germinate from a week after sowing and the final germination was 86.7% at 2 weeks after sowing. At $15^{\circ}C$, the seeds started to germinate at 2 weeks and the final germination rate was 75.0% at 4 weeks after sowing. At $25^{\circ}C$, the seeds started to germinate at a week and the final germination rate was 48.3% at 19 weeks after sowing. Consequently, Optimum temperature of germination is $20^{\circ}C$ that shown highest final germination rate and shortest mean germination time. The seeds germinated all temperature treatments within 4 weeks except to $5^{\circ}C$. Therefore, it is concluded that seeds of L. chrysantha have only morphological dormancy (MD).

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.310-317
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• 2014

This study was conducted to find basic information for the research of morphological dormancy in seeds of two genera (Heloniopsis and Thalictrum) native to Korea. Seeds of Heloniopsis koreana, Heloniopsis tubiflora, Thalictrum rochenbrunianum, Thalictrum uchiyamai, and Thalictrum coreanum were collected, and embryo morphology and seed germination were investigated. All seeds of five species had underdeveloped embryos which occupied about 10-20% of the full seed length at maturity. The seeds of H. koreana and H. tubiflora had rudimentary embryos. The seeds of T. rochenbrunianum, T. uchiyamai, and T. coreanum had intermediate type between rudimentary and linear embryo. The small embryos of all seeds of five species grew to a critical length before radicles emerge from the seeds. At 30 days after sowing, the seeds of H. koreana and H. tubiflora germinated to 22.7% and 40.7%, respectively. On the other hand, the seeds of T. rochenbrunianum, T. uchiyamai, and T. coreanum germinated to 12.5%, 3.3%, and 0%, respectively. If embryo growth and germination in seeds are completed in approximately 30 days, the seed are said to have morphological dormancy (MD). However, if the seeds require > 30 days for germination, they are considered to have morphophysiological dormancy (MPD). Thus, the seeds of H. koreana and H. tubiflora had about 78% and 60% MPD, respectively. On the other hand, the seeds of T. rochenbrunianum, T. uchiyamai, amd T. coreanum had about 87%, 96%, and 100% MPD, respectively. There was a different level of dormancy (MD and MPD) within the same seed population examined. Therefore, germination of the seeds was delayed due to the underdeveloped embryos. This result could contribute to determine morphological seed dormancy and germination mechanism in seeds of the Korean Peninsula.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 1977

The studies were carried to know the effects of GA$_3$, Ethrel and $H_2O$$_2$ on dormancy and germination in ginseng seeds. GA$_3$ stimulated the embryo growth and increased dehiscent (Kaekapp) ratio of the seeds for more than Ethrel and $H_2O$$_2$ GA$_3$ not only increased germination ratio but also shortened the period of germination. Ethrel and $H_2O$$_2$ showed no effects on the germination and there were no significant differences among the treatment levels of GA$_3$. The slow germination of ginseng seeds seemed to be mainly due to the dormancy of endosperm or seed coat rather than of embryo.