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Differences in seed dormancy associated with the domestication of Cucurbita maxima: elucidation of some mechanisms behind this response

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2017

Analía B. Martínez ,
Verónica Lema ,
Aylen Capparelli ,
Fernando López Anido ,
Roberto Benech-Arnold  and
Carlos G. Bartoli
Analía B. Martínez
Affiliation:
INFIVE, Facultades de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales y Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata-CCT CONICET La Plata, Argentina
Verónica Lema
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Etnobotánica y Botánica Aplicada (LEBA), Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina
Aylen Capparelli
Affiliation:
División Arqueología, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina
Fernando López Anido
Affiliation:
IICAR, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina
Roberto Benech-Arnold
Affiliation:
IFEVA-Cátedra de Cultivos Industriales. Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires/CONICET, Argentina
Carlos G. Bartoli*
Affiliation:
INFIVE, Facultades de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales y Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata-CCT CONICET La Plata, Argentina
*
Author for correspondence: Carlos G. Bartoli, INFIVE, UNLP, CCT-CONICET La Plata, Argentina Email: carlos.bartoli@agro.unlp.edu.ar
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Abstract

This work presents the results of physiological studies developed to understand modifications linked to the reduction of seed dormancy provoked by domestication processes. The experiments performed compared wild and domesticated Cucurbita subspecies and their hybrids developed by reciprocal crossings. Seeds of two accessions of the wild subspecies presented dormancy, but it was largely reduced in seeds from the domesticated genotype, and partially reverted in hybrids, especially in those obtained when the domesticated genotype was used as the mother plant. In addition, naked embryos of all subspecies did not display dormancy when incubation was performed at 28°C, but embryo germination was progressively reduced only in the wild genotype under decreasing incubation temperatures (22 and 16°C). In the embryos, abscisic acid (ABA) concentrations were similar in both domesticated and wild subspecies, whereas in the seed coat, it was threefold higher in the wild subspecies. The naked embryos from the wild subspecies were far more responsive to ABA than those from the domesticated subspecies. These results indicate that dormancy in the wild subspecies is imposed by the seed coat tissues and that this effect is mediated by their high ABA content and the sensitivity of the embryos to ABA. These physiological aspects were apparently removed by domestication along with the temperature-dependent response for germination.

Keywords

abscisic acidCucurbita maximadomesticationdormancyembryoseed
Type
Research Papers
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , March 2018 , pp. 1 - 7
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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