Attività Respiratoria Livelli Enzimatici e Tenore in Acqua Durante la Maturazione del Seme di Ricino

Abstract

Respiratory activity, enzyme levels and water contents in the ripening castor beans seed endosperm. — In the endosperm of the developing castor bean seed oxygen uptake, water contents and the « in vitro » measurable activity of various enzymes parallely drop during the terminal strages of ripening. The present investigations shows that also the capacity of water uptake decreases (and that of water loss increases) during ripening. When developing seeds at a stage close to ripeness are removed from the fruits and incubated under a condition of easy water availability, both respiration and enzyme activities rapidly rise; while this is not observed for seeds removed from the fruit at an earlier stage of development. These results are interpreted as indicating that the dehydration of the seed during ripening is both a consequence and a cause of the inactivation of enzyme systems.