Jan. 13,1923 
Respiration 0} Apple Seeds 
125 
TablB V. — Respiration fp/ Newtown Pippin seeds, not germinated after cold storage in 
the fruit to May 7, incubation at 5 0 to io° C for a few days and at 25° for 12 days 
Period. 
Tem¬ 
pera- 
Condition of seeds. 
| Gaseous exchanges, 
(mgm. per gm., 
dry weight, per 
day.) 
COi/O* 
(volume). 
ttire. 
Oxygen 
consumed. 
CO* pro¬ 
duced. 
Hours. 
45 
46 
°C. 
19 
19 
Dormant. 
0. 80 
O. 77 
.83 
I. 42 
2.25 
6. 62 
0. 70 
.72 
•71 
.89 
•63 
.85 
.61 
( a. 
12 per cent just beginning to germinate 
at end of neriod.. 
.35 
1.45 
I. 82 
(B. 24 percent germinating at end of period; 
Inn crest root 6 mm.. .. 
46 
19 
jA. 
Not germinated; 16 per cent germi¬ 
nating at end of period... 
IB. 
All germinated at beginning of period; 
fairly active growth; healthy. 
7 - 54 
i- 45 
13'4 
1.36 
9. 69 
21 
30 
A. 
Not germinated; io per cent germinat¬ 
ing at end of period. 
1. 71 
ii -3 
i- 53 
8- 55 
B. 
Same seeds as B in preceding period; 
little new growth; roots curled and 
reddish. 
46 
30 
t 
Same seeds as in preceding period; 
15 per cent germinating and 5 per 
cent moldy by end of period. 
.81 
Ib. 
Same seeds as B in preceding period; 
growth slow. 
.64 
Furthermore, contemporaneous germination tests showed that very 
little germination occurred at 25 0 C. after the first 12 days, while at 5 0 
to io°, or a little above, germination continued slowly and was nearly 
complete within the next two weeks. There was therefore a progressive 
change going on in each case, tending to a condition of dormancy at 25 0 , 
and to complete germination at the lower temperature. The impoverish¬ 
ment of the seeds used in this experiment as a result of relatively high 
respiratory intensity during the previous period at 25 0 , and especially 
the relatively high respiratory quotient no doubt obtaining at that 
temperature on the one hand, and the low respiratory intensity and 
storage of oxygen (low respiratory quotient) characteristic of the lower 
temperature on the other hand, are no doubt related to the comparative 
behavior, both as to respiration and as to germination, when the seeds 
used in the two experiments were brought to the same intermediate 
temperature of 19 0 . 
2. The respiratory intensity increased rapidly with advancing germi¬ 
nation, but fell off during the second period at the excessively high tem¬ 
perature of 30° C. 
3. The respiratory quotient corresponded to complete oxidation of 
the fats (0.70) at the beginning of the experiment, rose very slightly 
during the earliest emergence of radicles and much more during later 
incipient germinations, and fell markedly in later stages of germination 
in spite of the high temperature (30° C.), which gives a high respiratory 
quotient in dormant seeds. 
Fifth experiment. — A. Seeds remaining in lot A of previous experi¬ 
ment of which this experiment is a continuation; B, 25 York Imperial seeds 
not germinated after cold storage in the fruit to February 5, 1919, removed 
from fruit February 15, and incubation at 5 0 to io° C., four days, and 
at 25 0 3^2 months. This half of the experiment was begun May 27, 
1919. (Table VI.) 
