Comparative Germination of Barley Seeds (Hordeum Vulgare) Soaked in Alkaline Media and Effects on Starch and Soluble Proteins

Abstract

Barley seeds (Hordeum Vulgare) were germinated after soaking in different alkaline solutions of varied concentrations and pH, at room temperature of 25ºC. The rate of germination after 48 hours of soaking of the seeds in distilled water was found to be 35% and the rate for the seeds soaked in the solutions of Ca (OH)2 , KOH and Mg(OH)2 was observed as 60, 66 and 62% respectively. Where-as the rate of germination for the solutions of NaOH and NaHCO3 remained the same as that of the water. The influence in length of rootlets was also examined as a function of the nature of the soaking solutions. Sharp increase in the length was observed in case of Mg (OH)2 and KOH while in NaOH, Ca(OH)2 and NaHCO3 increase in rootlets length was found insignificant . Variation of starch and soluble protein contents in soaked solutions were also examined. Starch and soluble protein contents were found to be the highest in NaOH soaked seeds as 57.7 and 5.95% respectively, compared to 45.07 and 2.50 % for the seeds soaked in water