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Induction of extreme light sensitivity in buried weed seeds and its role in the perception of soil cultivations
Author(s) -
SCOPEL A. L.,
BALLARÉ C. L.,
SÁNCHEZ R. A.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
plant, cell and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 200
eISSN - 1365-3040
pISSN - 0140-7791
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3040.1991.tb01520.x
Subject(s) - weed , germination , phytochrome , tillage , agronomy , arable land , biology , botany , ecology , agriculture , red light
. Light, probably acting through the photo‐receptor phytochrome, promotes germination of weed seeds when the soil is disturbed by tillage operations. A short period of burial is shown to induce an enormous ∼10000‐fold increase in light sensitivity in the seeds of the arable weed Datura ferox which is interpreted as a natural transition to the ‘very‐low‐fluence’ mode of phytochrome action. Field experiments indicated that germination of buried seeds may be triggered by millisecond‐exposures to sunlight and suggested a key role for the process of sensitization in the mechanisms whereby light requiring seeds detect the occurrence of soil cultivation events in arable lands.