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Submitted by ziweiwang on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 21:10

Hi, 
My name is Ziwei, and this is my poster on how the removal of the seed coat affects the seed germination rate. So, what is the seed coat? The seed coat is a protective covering that surrounds the seed and protect the seed from the environment that the adult plant may not be able to survive in. In addition to the protective role that the seed coat plays, the seed coat also plays a role in controlling germination and produces some compound that is beneficial to the seed. This indicates that while it may seem like the seed coat is not doing anything, the seed coat is actually really biologically active. One of the things that have been suggested recently is that the seed coat actually impedes seed growth. Of course, we can all see why that would be important. If the seed starts germinating, there is no going back. you can't turn time back so the seed has to be sure that the ideal condition is met. However, this becomes a problem in agriculture where the ideal environment is provided. the ideal, in this case, would be for the seed to germinate as fast as it can so that the time is not wasted. So, with that idea in mind, this project was done. We removed the seed coat of the seed, and allowed it to germinate, and measured the rate. Our result indicate that the seed germination is somewhat faster in certain types of seeds, however, we were not able to get a definite answer of whether removing the seed coat caused the seed to germinate faster. my personal theory is that because there are so many compounds that seed coat produces, there may be some compounds that are produced by the seed coat that is needed for germination. Our next experiment would be to remove half of the seed coat and see if that would make the seed germinate faster.  

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