EFFECT OF INHIBITORS ON THE RESPIRATION AND STORAGE OF COTTONSEED

Abstract

One of the earliest attempts to apply chemical treatment as a means of inhibiting the heating and lipolysis of cottonseed during storage was made by Barrow (4), who used sodium chloride as the effective chemical agent. The application of 5 per cent, of sodium chloride to moist cottonseed had a twofold effect. First, as a result of the high salt concentration outside the seeds, considerable moisture was withdrawn from within. Secondly, small quantities of the salt which diffused into the seed inhibited the biological processes responsible for heating and lipolysis. Malowan (17) found that sodium chloride likewise decreased the rate of evolution of carbon dioxide from moist cottonseed and that alcohol, acetic acid, sulphuric acid, and formalin inhibited respiration. He found that certain disinfectants, such as copper sulphate and mercuric chloride, had no effect on the rate of respiration and concluded, therefore, that the carbon dioxide evolution observed under his experimental conditions was caused not by the action of micro-organisms but rather by the action of enzyme systems operating in the seed.