CR,
Thanks for the reference. It's discouraging to see in that snippet that sensitivity to GA-3 seems to vary by variety. And their study used seed that was, at most, only 9 years old. (ARS-GRIN's Nicotiana Seedbank is renewed at a rate of 10% of the accessions per year. Perhaps their "alternate site" does the same, though with different varieties, which would be a 5 year cycle between the two sites, but to my knowledge, it's a 10 year cycle.)
The Sweet Oronoko seed was completely used in 8 trials, 6 of which are still awaiting their outcome. Only two of the trials used 1000 ppm. Others were exposed to lower concentrations, though the methodology was not adequate to say exactly what concentration, since it was not used as a "soak" with those other trials, but lightly misted onto already moistened germination mixture in various ratios. In some of the trials, the seed had already imbibed water prior to GA-3 exposure. The two trials that molded were performed exclusively on filter paper, with no sign of germination. I would guess that at least one of the trials was at less that 1/4 of the starting concentration of 1000 ppm. With no more of the seed, whatever these remaining 6 trials yields is all she wrote.
A lab setup would be nice. At this point in my growing season, I might still be able to produce some seed from any successful germinations, but add another two or three weeks and it gets down to a pretty tight schedule. If Don still has any of the Sweet Oronoko seed, then maybe next March would be a suitable time to attempt it again with more precise methods. Given that the seed is already likely to be 0% viable (130 years old, and probably stored in a kitchen drawer for a century), I'm not particularly optimistic. It's still a fun thought.
Bob
Thanks for the reference. It's discouraging to see in that snippet that sensitivity to GA-3 seems to vary by variety. And their study used seed that was, at most, only 9 years old. (ARS-GRIN's Nicotiana Seedbank is renewed at a rate of 10% of the accessions per year. Perhaps their "alternate site" does the same, though with different varieties, which would be a 5 year cycle between the two sites, but to my knowledge, it's a 10 year cycle.)
The Sweet Oronoko seed was completely used in 8 trials, 6 of which are still awaiting their outcome. Only two of the trials used 1000 ppm. Others were exposed to lower concentrations, though the methodology was not adequate to say exactly what concentration, since it was not used as a "soak" with those other trials, but lightly misted onto already moistened germination mixture in various ratios. In some of the trials, the seed had already imbibed water prior to GA-3 exposure. The two trials that molded were performed exclusively on filter paper, with no sign of germination. I would guess that at least one of the trials was at less that 1/4 of the starting concentration of 1000 ppm. With no more of the seed, whatever these remaining 6 trials yields is all she wrote.
A lab setup would be nice. At this point in my growing season, I might still be able to produce some seed from any successful germinations, but add another two or three weeks and it gets down to a pretty tight schedule. If Don still has any of the Sweet Oronoko seed, then maybe next March would be a suitable time to attempt it again with more precise methods. Given that the seed is already likely to be 0% viable (130 years old, and probably stored in a kitchen drawer for a century), I'm not particularly optimistic. It's still a fun thought.
Bob