Importance of Seed Mineral Nutrient Reserves in Crop Growth and Development
Ross M. Welch
Abstract
Seed vigor and viability are important components influencing seedling establishment, crop growth, and productivity (Association of Official Seed Analysis, 1983; Welch, 1986; TeKrony and Egli, 1991; McDonald and Copeland. 1997). Any factor (biotic and/or environmental) that negatively affects seed vigor and viability during seed development will have adverse consequences for crop production, especially when the seeds are sown under environmentally stressful conditions (Fenner, 1992; Welch, 1995). Because significant amounts of seed nutrient reserves can be acquired from vegetative tissues, both size and number of seeds produced by maternal plants are most likely determined by their nutritional status at the time of flowering and bud initiation. Additionally, the timing of nutrient supplies to the maternal plant is critical to seed size, with earlier applications of nutrients having greater effects than later applications. Furthermore, the most important single determinant of mineral nutrient reserves in seeds is the mineral nutrient availability to the maternal plant during reproductive development, with increasing supplies of a particular mineral nutrient enhancing the nutrient concentration in the mature seed (Fenner, 1992).