period. Eight Petri dishes were used per treatment,
each one containing 25 seeds. The dishes were checked
every 3–4 days for 1 month and the number of seeds/
embryos germinated was scored. A seed was considered
to have germinated when the radicle emerged
and, in the case of the excised embryos, when they radicle
had elongated by at least 1 cm. At the end of the
assay, seeds that had not germinated were opened to
check if the embryo was aborted or if the seed was
empty. The time elapsed until reaching 50% germination
of the final germination level (T50) was the measure
selected to study the germination velocity.