Oxygen transport and consumption in germinating seeds

Three mathematical models were formulated to describe the oxygen con-sumption of seeds during germination. These models were fitted to measure-ment data of oxygen consumption curves for individual germinating seeds of Savoy cabbage, barley and sugar beet provided by Fytagoras. The first model builds on a logistic growth model for the increasing population of mitochondria in the embryo during growth. The other two take the anatomy and physiologi-cal properties of the seed into account. One describes the oxygen uptake during the germination phase only. An extension of this model is capable of fitting the complete oxygen consumption curve, including the initial ‘repair’ phase in which the embryonic cells recover from their dormant state before extensive cell division and growth commences. Keywords: Modelling, seed germination, cellular respiration, oxygen transport