112 



PHYSIOLOGICAL PREDETERMINATION : THE 

 INFLUENCE OF THE PHYSI0L0GK\4L CONDI- 

 TION OF THE SEED UPON THE COURSE OF 

 SUBSEQUENT GROWTH AND UPON THE YIELD. 



IL REVIEW OF LITERATURE. CHAPTER I. 



Bv FRANKLIN KIDD, M.A. (Cantab.), D.8c. (Lond.), 

 Fellow of Sf JoJni's (Jollrye, (Jaiiibridfjc, 



AND 



CYRIL WEST, A.R.C.Sc, D.Sc. (Lond.). 



PAGE 



Introduction .......... 112 



Chapter I. Parental Conditions affecting tlie '•Potentiality^" of 



the Seed 113 



A. Soil, LocaHty, and Chmate . . . . . . 113 



B. Size of Seed as an Index of Parental Conditions 



affecting " Potentiality " ...... 118 



(a) Determined by CHmatic and Edaphic Factors 



acting upon the Parent Plant . . . 1 lit 



(/>) Determined by the Position of the Seed in the 



Fruit, of the Fruit in the Inflorescence, and 



of the Inflorescence on the Plant . . . 122 



(r) Experiments in which the Factors controlhnu 



the Size of the Seed are undetermined . . 120 



C. Conchision ......... 138 



INTRODUCTION. 



It may not always be fully realised to what a degree the developmental 

 capacity of plants is pre-determined by the action of environmental 

 conditions during the earliest stages of their life-histories. During the 

 cours.^ of germination and in the seedling stage, or even earlier during 

 the sojourn of the seed upon the parent and in the dormant ])eriod. 

 the "potentialities"' of plants may be affected by actions which only 

 suhs(M|U(Mitlv produce visible results. These results appear during the 

 later stages of development, without reference to the conditions then 

 existing. In this way adverse conditions in the later stages of develop- 

 ment may not su])press n vigour of giowlii which has been pre-deter- 

 iiiiii»'(l undci' l';i\'()ni;il)l(' coiiditions dui'inu the ri])(Mnng of llic simmI in 

 ' l.(\ (lie capiuily ol tlic rcsiillinL: plan! tor urowth ai\d yit'ld 



