Evidence for an Ethylene Requirement to Reduce Soaking Injury in Bean Seeds and the Beneficial Effect of Heavy Metals

The known antagonistic effect of CO 2 on ethylene action and the fact that waterlogging leads to increased ethylene production in plants which apparently contributes to injury of submerged plants led us to suspect ethylene as a causative factor in soaking injury of seeds. This hypothesis was tested in the present study for Phaseolus vulgaris seeds by investigating the effect of the ethylene absorbant Hg(ClO 4 ) 2 and antagonists of ethylene production or action (AVG, NBD, Ag, Ni and Co) on soaking injury, the effect of ethylene and ethrel on soaking injury, and the effect of soaking on ethylene production