Seed, development water uptake

Preparation of dry beans involves preliminary hydration followed by various heat treatments to obtain a tender, palatable product. Water and heat play an important role in chemical reactions, heat transfer and chemical transformations, such as protein denaturation and starch gelatinization. Inadequate water uptake may result in insufficient heat transfer to inactivate antinutritional factors and result in reduced cookability. In general, beans with an initial moisture content between 12 and 18%, are soaked to hydrate the seed to a moisture content of 53 to 57% and subsequently blanched, cooked or canned. This cooking step, if done for an optimal time, renders the seed nontoxic, improves digestibility, develops acceptable flavor and softens the seed coat and cotyledon. 

Because chemical fertilizers are salts, the overapplication of soluble fertilizers can cause the soil solution to have high osmotic pressure and inhibit water uptake by seeds or plants. For this reason, soluble fertilizers (mainly the N and K forms) cannot be applied in large amounts with seeds or close to plants. A salt index was developed years ago to pro e relative guid-... 

Water uptake, increasing respiration and the biochemical events described in detail in Chapter 5 culminate in the growth of the embryo and the development of the seedling, provided of course that the seed is not dormant. The first... 

A developing embryo produces ABA, which incepts and maintains mature seed dormancy. Germination begins with the uptake of water by imbibition of the dry seed and is followed by embryo expansion. Usually, it is considered complete when the radicle is through all the covering layers. There is still controversy whether... 

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