Q 10 on imbibition

Principle : In general, when seeds are immersed into water, the water is soaked up and the seeds swell up considerably,and the phenomenon is termed as imbibition. Since imbibition is a biological process temperature has an influence.So, van't Hoff's law will play a positive role on imbibition. The law states that, with a rise of every 10°C there is a doubling of the speed of the reaction .

      Q10 is the measurement of the rate of change of a biological or chemical system as a consequence of increasing the temperature by 10°C. Hence, Q10 is a ratio of the two values of a biological system at two temperature differ by 10°C.

                     (T2--T2)/10°C.   

                Q10.                       =  R2/ R1, where R= the rate; T= temperature at Celsius ° or Kelvin ; Q10is uniteless quantity. For biological system Q10 is ~2--3 .

    Materials and Equipments required :

(1) Gram /Pea seeds ~50 gm

(2)Beaker 9 small and 1 large

(3) Distilled water : 1 lit.

(4) Digital balance,gas-burner,tripod and net.

(5) Graph papers, pencil, scale,stop-watch,blotting papers,etc.

Procedure:

(1) Room temperature is noted down, in this case 26°C ,dated 25th February,2020 , Kailashahar, Tripura.

(2)Dry gram seeds are taken seperately for 3 sets (in triplicate).

     Set l : initial wts 5.196 gm, 5.200 gm and 5.150gm

     Set ll :.                 5.020gm, 5.100 gm and 5.080gm

    Set lll :.                 5.071 gm, 5.021gm and 5.150 gm respectively.

So the average wt is 5.182 gm,5.083 gm and 5.120 gm respectively.

(3) Seeds are taken in seperate beakers and normally cold disilled water at 26 °C , hot water maintaining 36 °C and hot water maintaining 46°C is added to each set respectively for 1 hr.

(4) After 1hr seeds are removed. blotted and finally weighted .

                               Final wt.                    Average wt.         Difference in wt

Set l. (7.054, 7.061, 7.065) gm.          7.060gm.              1.868 gm (final av wt--initial av wt )

Set ll (7.455, 7.485,7.475) gm.           7.471 gm.              2.386 gm

Set lll (7.774, 7.775, 7.735)gm.          7.761gm.              2.634 gm

(5) Percentage of water absorption against each temperature is calculated and graphically plotted.

Set l at 26 °C is 36% ,Set ll at 36°C is ~47% and Set lll at 46 °C is 52%.

(6) Q10 is calculated 

Q10 at 26 °C to 36°C is 47÷36=1.30 and

Q10 at 36°C to 46 °C is 52÷47=1.10.

Conclusion

In  this experiment it has been showed that van't Hoff's law is applicable at low temperature and at higher temperature enzyme activity decreases and the law fails .

Inference

Temperature has profound effect on the physiological process like imbibition.