Modeling the single seed oxygen consumption of germinating seeds

Abstract

The rate of oxygen consumption by germinating seeds is considered to be one of the promising parameters for monitoring the seed status and a candidate for predicting germination and seed vigor. Nowadays, the single seed oxygen consumption patterns can be measured on a big scale and at a detailed time resolution using a Q2 machine. However, interpretation of the data in terms of functioning of internal oxygen transport and overall seed properties is still hard, due to the lack of knowledge on and the complexity of these properties and processes. Modeling may be of great help in understanding the relation between germination and the oxygen consumption pattern of a seed. In this thesis a model for the single seed oxygen consumption inside a closed test tube is proposed, relating the measured oxygen concentration to the size of the active mitochondrial population. The analytical solution of this model is used for calibration of the experimental data and all calibrated results are analyzed. From this analysis an attempt is made to distinguish between germinating and non germinating seeds in order to determine which seed properties cause slow/fast germination. Based on this model a method introducing the seed and test tube volume is proposed in order to predict the observations when the sizes of these volumes change.