Without seeds there would be no agriculture. In this course, we will delve into current seed science, to gain an understanding of what makes seeds tick – for example, how they respond to their environment in multiple ways, how they can travel significant distances, how we manipulate their properties to enhance their value, and how we can model their behaviour. We will also discuss their role in society, in particular about international trade, conservation of biodiversity, and plant succession.
Course Prerequisites
General knowledge of Plant Biology
Teaching Methods
The course comprises lectures, sometimes with supporting videos, with plenty of time for questions and discussion. We will look into some of the literature on various topics and you will be expected to summarise a couple of papers of your choice. You will have access to the lecture recordings and pdfs of the presentations after each lecture. Additional reading will also be made available.
Assessment Methods
A 1-hour written exam requiring answers of a few paragraphs (not essays).
Texts
Teaching materials will be provided by the lecturer in the classroom: Powerpoint slides/pdfs and relevant literature will be provided
Please see https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ista/sst and https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/seed-science-research.
Contents
The course covers the following topics: seed morphology (with emphasis on rice, importance of seed and food storage reserves, seed isotherms); seed dormancy, imbibition processes, dormancy types, 1st and 2nd dormancy, germination requirements, modelling germination behaviour, e.g. in response to temperature, water potential, salinity seed vigour; seed treatments; Oryza taxonomy and in situ-ex situ conservation, including conservation behaviour and longevity; policy frameworks of plant genetic resources; aspects of rice cultivation related to seed ecology, including weedy (red) rice.
We will start by discussing how seeds are formed, the different structures that make up a seed, and the unique ability of some seeds to stay alive for hundreds of years in a dry state. We will then look at how imbibition of water kick starts germination processes – something that we manipulate in some seed technology treatments – or conversely, why water alone might not be enough to initiate germination. As the carrier of genetic material and depending on the method of reproduction, seeds may be genetical homogenous or heterogeneous. We will consider how this impacts their response and how we can model it accordingly.
