The effect of oxygen on seed survival and accumulation of chromosome damage in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.).

Loss of viability and accumulation of chromosome damage were studied in lettuce seeds stored in air and nitrogen at two moisture contents, 6.1% and 18.1%. At the low moisture content survival was marginally better in nitrogen than in air. However, at the high moisture content seeds stoted in air survived longer than those in nitrogen. In spite of.these differences, gas environment has little effect on the relationship between viability and the amount of chromosome damage accumulating in the surviving seeds. Thus seeds stored in both nitrogen and air showed the same number of chromosomal aberrations for any given loss of viability. However the number of aberrations observed for any given loss of viability was much less in the moist seeds than in the dry seeds. The prospects of using inert gas environment for controlling genetic deterioration during seed storage are briefly discussed