Republic of the Philippines

CAPIZ STATE UNIVERSITY

Pontevedra, Capiz

AS 121
PRINCIPLES OF CROP SCIENCE
2nd Semester 2019-2020

GROWTH OF PLANTS

Germination

Flowering plants can be broadly grouped into monocotyledons and dicotyledons.

Monocotyledons have single cotyledon in their seeds. Cereals and millets belong to this
groups.
Emergence

Root Growth

Inflorescence
Seed and Fruit Growth
 DEVELOPMENT

Developmental Stages
Germination and Emergence
A seed has three main parts:
The embryo-consists of the cells that will develop into the structures of the adult
plant (root, bud, stalk, and leaf).
The cotyledons—one in monocots and gymnosperms and two in dicots— are organs
of absorption, drawing food from the seed’s storage tissue. In monocots, this
tissue is called the endosperm, and in gymnosperms, the megagametophyte.
The cotyledons themselves serve as storage tissue in dicots.
The seed coat protects all of these structures from predation, injury, and moisture
loss.

Seedling Growth

Maximum Vegetative Growth Stage

Primordial Differentiation
Flowering Stage

Fruit Growth
 Fruit Structure
During fruit development, an ovary wall becomes a pericarp: either dry as in a dehiscent
pea pod and the indehiscent caryopsis of barley, or fleshy as in berries (grape).
Three morphologically distinct strata are present and developed to varied degrees:
exocarp (fruit skin), mesocarp (fruit flesh) and endocarp (inner cell layers).

Carbon accumulation
 D u r i n g d e ve l o p m e n t , p h o to a s s i m i l a te i s s t o r e d i n f r u i t ( a n d o t h e r
s i n k o r ga n s s u c h a s r o o t ve g e t a b l e s , s e e d s a n d f l o w e rs ) i n e i t h e r a
s o l u b l e o r i n s o l u b l e fo r m .
 F r u i t t h at s t o re c a r b o n i n a s o l u b l e f o r m ( e . g . b e r r y f r u i t , p e a c h ,
p e r s i m m o n , m e l o n , g ra p e , c i t r u s ) n e e d t o re m a i n o n t h e p l a n t u nt i l
n e a r l y r i p e i f t h e y a re to s u r v i v e p o st h a r ve st s to r a g e a n d m e e t
c u s to m e r e x p e c ta t i o n s .
 T h e r e a re o t h e r f r u i t t h a t s t o re t h e i r c a r b o n i n i n s o l u b l e f o r m s ,
p a r t i c u l a r l y s ta rc h . T h i s a l l o w s g re at e r e f f i c i e n c y i n a c c u m u l at i n g
c a r b o n , a s t h e s t o ra g e p r o d u c t i s m o re c o m p a c t , o s m o t i c a l l y
i n a c t i ve a n d b e tt e r s e g re g a te d f r o m m e ta b o l i c p r o c e s s e s . E xa m p l e s
a re a v o c a d o , w h i c h st o re s c a r b o n a s b o t h s ta rc h a n d l i p i d , a n d
k i w i f r u i t , a p p l e , p e a r, m a n g o, p a p aya a n d b a n a n a , a l l o f w h i c h
s to re c a r b o n a s s ta rc h .

Fruit Maturity

Physiological Maturity

Harvest Maturity