| Abstract: | Changes in the dry weight (dry wt.), total and neutral lipids,and fatty acid composition were determined in the cotyledonsand axis of Citrullus lanatus cv. Sugar baby seedlings duringtheir first 12 d growth in the dark, at 25 ? 1 ?C. The major stored reserves were mobilized between days 3 and8. The lipid concentration after day 4 decreased rapidly inthe cotyledons. On the first day the lipid concentration inthe axis was higher than in the cotyledons but decreased rapidlyand from day 5 up to the end of the experiments it remainedat very low values. In the cotyledons, the change in the fattyacid composition was relatively small compared to the significantchange observed in the axis. The neutral lipids of the cotyledonsdecreased sharply between days 2 and 6 while their fatty acidcomposition suffered no significant change. The axis, comparedto the cotyledons, contained a small but concentrated amountof neutral lipids, which decreased up to day 6. Thereafter,an increase was observed. The fatty acid composition of theaxis neutral lipids changed significantly, linoleic and oleicacid decreased while palmitic and linolenic acid increased. Key words: Citrullus lanatus, seed germination, seedling growth, lipids, fatty acids |
