Vegetative growth in cereal crops

• The first sign of seed germination in a cereal is the rupture of the seed coat by the primary seminal root.
• This is followed by the emergence of one or more pairs of lateral seminal roots.
• When the plumule does emerge, the growing point is raised near the ground surface by the elongation of the internode above the coleoptile.
• The next two or three internodes remain arrested and thicken laterally to form the ‘crown’ of the plant from which both tillers and adventitious root rise.
• During this vegetative stage, tillers are produced. The number depends on the light environment but typically sex to eight tillers appear.