Water Mobility and Microstructure Evolution in the Germinating Medicago truncatula Seed Studied by NMR Relaxometry. A Revisited Interpretation of Multicomponent Relaxation

The water status of Medicago truncatula Gaertn. seed was followed by low-field NMR relaxometry during germination with and without oryzalin or fusicoccin used as growth modulators. T 1 and T 2 relaxation times and proportions P 1 and P 2 were determined on fresh, frozen, and freeze–thawed samples to characterize changes in water dynamics and compartmentation and in the nonfreezing water fraction. The results demonstrate that low-field NMR relaxometry allowed differentiating germination phases and events occurring during them as well as perturbations related to the presence of growth modulators. The results provide clear evidence that the classical multicomponent relaxation interpretation cannot directly relate T 2 components and morphological compartments in biological tissue.