Resistance of corn seedlings to high temperatures in laboratory tests
1940
Heyne, E.G. | Laude, H.H.
The reaction of corn seedlings to artificial heat was studied and this reaction was found to correlate well with the behavior of the same strains under field conditions. Seedlings 10 to 14 days old treated for 5 hours at 130 degrees F, with a relative humidity of 25 to 30%, were more heat tolerant than those at the later stages of early development. Decapitation experiments and decline in weight of seeds indicate that after the fourteenth day the young plants had exhausted most of the food material from the endosperm. The heat resistance of corn seedlings kept in the dark for 12 to 18 hours was increased considerably by exposure to light for as short a period as 1 hour. The results indicate that the testing of seedlings for heat resistance can be relied upon with considerable assurrance for distinguishing genetic differences in the drought tolerance of larger plants of different strains of maize. A high temperature test appraently is a valuable supplement to field studies of drought resistance.
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