Fig. 1. The effect of watermelon seed layer removal on seed germination
percentage. Bars represent mean percentage of seed germination for pericarpinfested
(symptomatic fruit) (lots 1 and 2) and pistil-infested (asymptomatic
fruit) (lots 3 and 4) seeds in two independent experiments. Error bars represent
the standard deviation of the mean germination percentages for two seed lots
of each infection type in two experiments. A, Mean germination percentages
for seeds with intact testae and perisperm-endosperm (PE) layers (control). B,
Mean germination percentages for seeds with testae removed. C, Mean germination
percentages for seeds with testae and PE layers removed. Means with
similar uppercase (column-wise comparisons) and lowercase (row-wise comparisons)
letters are not significantly different according to factorial analysis
by t test (P < 0.05).