Topic: Physical Dormancy

Name: Mehwish Khadim

Roll No: 79
Submitted to: Dr.Abdul Ghani
M.Sc. Botany 3rd (S.S)
PHYSICAL DORMANCY
 Dormancy is period in organism life cycle when growth
development and physical activity are temporarily
stopped. This minimizes metabolic activity, therefore help
an organism to conserve energy.

 Physical dormancy is type of exogenous dormancy

which is caused by the conditions outside the embryo.
 Dormancy that is caused by an impermeable seed
coat is known physical dormancy.
 Physical dormancy is the result of impermeable
layers that develops during maturation and
drying of the seed or fruit.
 This impermeable layer prevents the seed from
taking up water or gases.
 Seeds with physical dormancy have hard seed
coats that do not allow the seed to absorb water.

 In natural system physical dormancy is broken

by several factors including high temperature,
freezing, drying or passage through digestive
system of animals.
 Physical dormancy (impermeability of seed coats to
water) is related to histological features of seed coat. This
mechanism has ecological importance since it determines
the time and space of germination.
 To get seeds with physical dormancy to absorb
water, they must be scarified. In nature, this is
most often caused by high temperature.

 Seeds with physical dormancy require scarification to allow

them to imbibe water. The three most common ways to
scarify seeds include hot water, acid, or scratching the
seed surface.
HOT WATER TREATMENT

 Hot water treatment can be accomplished by

dropping seeds in water that has just
boil. Remove the boiling water container
from the heat source and allow the seeds to soak
for 1 to 10 minutes depending on the seed type.
Too long an exposure to the hot water can kill the
seed. This works for many seeds with physical
dormancy, but usually only a small percentage of
seeds become able to absorb water.
ACID TREATMENT

 Acid treatment involves soaking the seeds in

concentrated sulfuric acid for 30 to 120 minutes.
Following treatment, the acid is drained from the
seeds and the seeds quickly rinsed to remove the
remaining acid. Since sulfuric acid and water react
together to generate heat, improper rinsing can
kill the seeds. This is a very effective way to treat
seeds with physical dormancy. However, working
with acid can be dangerous.
SCRATCHING SEED SURFACE

Scratching the seed surface with a small file is the

recommended method for scarifying small batches
of seeds. The outer few layers of the seed covering
should be scratched through with the corner of the
file. The seed only needs to be scratched at one
location. This allows water to penetrate the seed.
 Physical dormancy has been identified in the seeds
of plants across 15 angiosperm families:-
Anacardiaceae ,
Bixaceae ,
Cannaceae ,
Cistaceae,
Cochlospermaceae,
Convolvulaceae,
Cucurbitaceae,
Dipterocarpaceae,
Fabaceae,
Gerniaceae,
Malvaceae,
Nelumbonaceae,
Rhamnaceae,
Sarcolaenaceae,
Sapindaceae.
 Species with physical dormancy have seed coats
that prevent water imbibition even under favorable
environmental conditions.

 Thus, the time when seeds become permeable plays an

important role in controlling germination timing under
natural conditions and the subsequently successful
establishment of seedlings. Therefore, physical dormancy
has a great ecological importance.
 Physical dormancy is related to histological features of the
seed coat, such as tightly packed epidermal palisade cells
and presence of various chemical substances (e.g., lignin,
callose, lipids, phenolic deposits, cutin, wax, and suberin) in
any layer of the seed coat.
 In different plant families, seeds with physical dormancy have a
specialized anatomical structure in the palisade layer, the
“water gap”, which allows a strictly localized water entry into
the seed.

 This structure, called “lens” in legumes, acts as an

environmental signal detector of the appropriate time
and place for seeds to germinate and as a regulator of
the rate of water uptake into the seed.
 Economic Importance:

 Physical dormancy controls germination and maximizes

successful seedling establishment.

 Therefore, the differences in the histochemical and

physiological characteristics of the seed coat of the
different species indicate that each species has special
germination requirements and might have different use of
microhabitat resources.