Changes in Thiol and Disulphide Contents in Barley Embryos During Dormancy and After-Ripening

During after-ripening, moistened embryos of Balder barley were initially unable to release glutathione and cysteine from peptides and alcohol-soluble proteins already present in the embryo; later they were able to do so. When dormancy was broken by soaking the grains in gibberellic acid, the embryos rapidly released glutathione and cysteine, immediately after harvest-ripeness. A good correlation was found to exist between the sum of the amounts of glutathione and cysteine found in the embryos after 24 hr. soaking and the percentage of grains germinated in three days.