Germination of Byblis seed In Vitro

From: DroseraMAN@aol.com
Date: Sat Mar 06 1999 - 16:05:17 PST


Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 19:05:17 EST
From: DroseraMAN@aol.com
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg705$foo@default>
Subject: Germination of Byblis seed In Vitro

I am Joseph Clemens:

I would like to share an observation I made in the summer of 1988 while
experimenting with micropropagation and aseptic germination of various CP. I
had presoaked Byblis liniflora seed in a Tween 20 nonionic surfactant solution
(2 drops in 4 oz. of DD water) for about 30 minutes. After this presoak I
began surface sterilization of the seed in preparation for In Vitro
germination. I decanted the seed onto filter paper in a funnel and rinsed
them first with a bleach solution (1 part Clorox / 9 part water). I noticed
that a dark purple pigment was being leached out of the seed and into the
filter paper. I next rinsed the seed with 90% ETOH and noticed that the
leaching of pigment was accelerated. Soon (within 5 minutes) the seed coat
had become transparent and the seed appeared milky white (visible now through
the seed coat). Finally, just before sowing I rinsed the seed thoroughly with
sterilized distilled water. Understanding that germination of some seed is
controlled by substances contained in the seed coats I decided to plant one
half of the treated seed in the conventional manner (on the surface of a
moistened sphagnum peat moss, in a small pot). I then sowed approximately 30
of the seed, each In Vitro and 30 on the peat. This was completed and left in
the lab at approximately 8 PM, by 8 AM the next morning the seed on both media
showed 100% germination and all plants developed normally to maturity.

I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this?

Thanks,
Joseph (DroseraMAN@aol.com)



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