Control of Seed Growth in Soya Beans [Glycine max (L.) Merrill]

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Abstract
The seed is the primary sink for photosynthate during reproductive growth and an understanding of the mechanisms controlling the rate of seed growth is necessary to understand completely the yield production process. The growth rate of individual seeds of seven soya bean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] cultivars with genetic differences in seed size varied from 10.8 to 3.9 mg seed−1 day−1. The growth rates were highly correlated with final seed size. The growth rate of cotyledons cultured in a complete nutrient medium was highly correlated with the growth rate of seeds developing on the plant and with final seed size. The number of cells per seed in the cotyledons varied from 10.2 to 5.7 × 106 across the seven cultivars. The number of cells per seed in the cotyledons was significantly correlated with final seed size and the seed growth rate both on the plant and in the culture medium. The data suggest that genetic differences in seed growth rates are controlled by the cotyledons and the number of cells in the cotyledons may be the mechanism of control.