The Appearance of Lactic Acid in Phaseolus Seeds Germinating under Wet Conditions

Under normal conditions of germination, there is never muchlactate in bean cotyledons, but when beans are germinated underwet conditions lactate accumulates for about 30 h and then slowlydisappears, as radicle emergence begins. Removal of the testaefrom soaked seeds prevents subsequent lactate accumulation.Lactate also appears in beans germinated under nitrogen. Lactate dehydrogenase activity is enhanced in wet or anaerobicconditions. Incubation with pyruvate increased lactate dehydrogenaseby 50 per cent. There was also a temporary accumulation of alcohol in beansgrown under wet conditions. Under wet conditions the production of respiratory carbon dioxidewas particularly slow during the period of lactate accumulation.