Lipid Mobilization During Dormancy Breakage in Oilseed of Corylus avellana

During the stratification necessary for the alleviation of dormancyin Corylus avellana L. there is a substantial reorganizationof metabolic processes. Changes in activities of some enzymesrelated to lipid mobilization were followed throughout a fruitstratification period at 5 °C and control treatment at 20°C. Significant increases in total lipase and isocitratelyase activities were found in both embryonic axes and cotyledonsof seeds from fruits stratified at 5 °C, whereas the activitiesremained consistently low in those held at 20 °C. Theseresults correlated with an earlier ultrastructural study whichshowed a reduction in storage lipid. The increased potentialfor lipolysis was concomitant with loss of dormancy as seenin germination tests. These findings suggest that lipid mobilizationduring stratification could be related to the overall patternof metabolic changes which are required for dormancy release. Corylus avellana L., hazel, lipid, catalase, isocitrate lyase, lipase, stratification