Seed Dormancy in Grasses [Paperback]

This book provides a comprehensive review of the occurrence and explanation of seed dormancy in grasses.This book provides a comprehensive review of the occurrence and explanation of seed dormancy in grasses. Essential reading for all those who need to understand the mechanisms of seed dormancy, this book will be a valuable text for advanced students and professionals in plant physiology, crop science, plant breeding and agronomy.This book provides a comprehensive review of the occurrence and explanation of seed dormancy in grasses. Essential reading for all those who need to understand the mechanisms of seed dormancy, this book will be a valuable text for advanced students and professionals in plant physiology, crop science, plant breeding and agronomy.The first comprehensive review of the occurrence and explanation of seed dormancy in grasses is presented in this volume. An understanding of seed dormancy is of considerable significance to world agriculture and the global economy, since grasses are a principal source of food for humankind and play an essential role in stabilizing the land surface of much of the globe. Experimental evidence is considered in depth for a single species, the wild oat (Avena fatua), probably the most widely studied species for understanding seed dormancy in the plant kingdom. The evidence for this species is compared with other examples among the Gramineae to reach some general conclusions about the nature of seed dormancy in grasses.Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The occurrence of dormancy in the Gramineae; 2. Mutual influences of inflorescence and caryopsis parts on dormancy; 3. Environmental influences on seed dormancy; 4. Timing of dormancy; 5. Modelling the induction, maintenance and termination of dormancy in grass seeds; Bibliography; Index. ...a most useful case study with a balanced coverage and an optimistic attitude to the future. Nature ...a major contribution to the literature on the nature of seed dormancl“.