[Infrared spectroscopic study on storage substance mobilization of crop seeds in germination]

The traditional method to study the storage substance mobilization of seeds during the process of germination is chemical extraction, which is troublesome and time consuming. In the present paper, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to study the storage substance mobilization of legume and cereal seeds in germination. The spectral results show that legume seeds (soybean, pea and broad bean) exhibit similar remarkable changes in the region from 1 000 to 1 200 cm(-1) in germination, which suggest that the storage carbohydrates in endosperm of legume seeds are mobilized during the process of germination. Notable changes were observed on amide bands of protein and lipid band in the spectra of germinating cereal seeds (rice, wheat and barley), indicating that storage proteins and lipids in cotyledon were utilized during the process of cereal seed germination. The results suggest that vibrational spectroscopy has the advantages of rapidress and convenience in the study of crop seeds and seed physiology.