In the development of garden pea seeds (P. sativum L., cv. ‘Kelvedon Wonder’) the ability to withstand desiccation was found to be preceded by a fall in respiration rate and seed moisture content, both of which followed a sharp decline in ethanol-soluble sugars. When harvested seeds were kept in high humidity conditions respiration was found to decline even though the moisture content was maintained. The fall in respiration was always associated with a fall in the level of sugars. Further experiments showed that the seeds whose respiration had fallen in humid storage could be induced to respire more rapidly by the addition of sucrose. It is suggested that seeds can only withstand rapid desiccation after a decrease in physiological activity following a fall in the supply of respiratory substrate in the form of sugars.
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Rogerson et al. (1977) studied this question.