Relationships between antioxidant enzymes and physiological variations occur during ageing of pepper seeds

Physiological and biochemical changes occur at different viability levels of pepper seeds. For this purpose 80, 60, 40, and 20% viability levels were obtained by controlled deterioration treatments in the seeds of 3 pepper cultivars, ‘Demre Sivri’, ‘Kandil Dolma’, and ‘Yalova Çarliston’. Subsequently, mean germination time (MGT), electrical conductivity (EC), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), total lipid rate (TLR) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured at these viability levels. Depending on ageing, MGT, EC, and MDA contents increased in the seeds of each cultivar. The increases in MGT, EC, and MDA contents were more evident when seed viability decreased to a 60% level. Moreover, a negative correlation was found between the loss of seed viability and MGT, MDA, and EC. However, there was a positive correlation between loss of seed viability and CAT, SOD, POX, and TLR in all cultivars. Therefore, it was possible to predict the germination rate and mean germination time of the pepper seeds after detection of their antioxidant enzymes.