Respiration of Maize Grain.

Abstract

Respiration of maize grain increased logarithmically with the percentage of added moisture, but increases above about 17% were relatively less than those below. Respiration at 23% moisture was 100 x greater than at 14%. Freshly harvested grain respired only 1/6 as fast as dried grain remoistened to the same %. This dormancy effect is important in storage. Respiration showed a Q10 of about 3, and decreased logarithmically as O2 was depleted and CO2 accumulated in closed containers. The curve showed no break at the point of O2 exhaustion. Sterile grain respired at the same rate as non-sterile seed-corn between 17 and 26% moisture.