抄録
A high sensitive microcalorimeter which is applicable to the detection of small heat effects due to biological process ocurring in plant cells and tissues was constructed and applied to study germination activity of various crops seeds. The germination tests were performed in the calorimetric units and the heat evolution process associated with the budding and rooting was quantitatively determined. The amount of heat evolved was compared with the extent of germination determined by eyeball observations and found to well reflect the viable activity of seeds.
From the result that there is a good correlation between the heat evolution and the extent of germination, we conclude that the calorimetric method employed here can be an analytical tool in checking viability of useful aged crops seeds and therefore valuable in uniformal selection of seedling materials in aged crops seeds.
