XVI International Botanical Congess

Employing the experimental theory of diffusion developed in our laboratory,seed constants have been worked out in five wheat & three varieties of maize for varietal identification & seed purity. The technique involved the diffusion of 0.01 MKCl at a fixed temperature of 45 degree centigrade in a single seed and in a specially designed diffusion cell of 10 ml volume.The seed constant which is a characteristic of the seed coat was calculated in each case after the attainment of steady- state conditions.The different values of seed constants in the two crops clearly establish that diffusion phenomena can now be successfully employed for seed identification under laboratory controlled conditions.