Examining ATI Wisdom Booklets: Booklet 5 – Science – How Wheat Grows

Last updated on: September 12, 2016 at 11:01 am

September 12, 2016 by Suzanne Titkemeyer

Good news! There is a tiny plant in each wheat grain.
Bad news! The husk doesn’t have to split for water to enter. The husk will allow water from the soil though.
Bad news! Germination is the entire process of the seed going from a dormant state until it reaches the first true leaves.

I wonder how many authors worked on this section. This paragraph has a better description of what happens to the seed coat over time. It also contradicts the previous paragraph.
Yikes. “A seed requires large amounts of oxygen because it cannot produce its own food” is both confusing and not right at all.

A seed needs oxygen to grow as do most living organisms. Oxygen is used by cells to break down sugar or starch and capture the energy stored in the starch. In seeds, the embryo starts developing by breaking down carbohydrates, fats or proteins that have been stored in the seed for this exact purpose.
A seed cannot produce its own food from photosynthesis because the required structures like leaves are not exposed to the sun while the embryo is in the seed or buried under soil.
Making food in plants does not require oxygen! Photosynthesis requires water, sunlight and carbon dioxide. Inside the cells of the plant, the atoms in the water and carbon dioxide are rearranged to form sugar molecules which store the energy captured from sunlight.

Minimum germination temperature do exist and are quite important. The problem is that abundant water below the germination temperature can lead to the seed rotting before germination is completed.