Seed coat anatomy of some members of Brassicaceae of Kashmir Himalaya

Abstract

It is well established that the variations in seed coat patterns are successfully employed in the identification and classification of taxa, and in establishing phylogenetic relationships between them. Structural features of seeds and fruit have been used in the analysis of residues remaining after oil extraction and also other types of industrial processing of raw materials. Further, seed identification manuals often aid in confirming the identities of archaeological specimens, Chowdhury and Buth. This presents the comparative studies of seed coat in 7 species newlineand their cultivars.Sixteen cultivars in 7 species of Brassica were studied.For each taxon, 5-20 seeds were selected at random from the seed lot. These were kept in water for 3-4 hr, and then pressed between the fingers to find out whether the seed coat slipped off. At this stage of softening, the seeds were cut into two pieces with a sharp blade. The seed coat was removed and cut newlineinto flat pieces newline