biostudies-literatureHe Zhu ZNational Key Technology Research and Development ProgramNatural Science Foundation of Anhui Province9341-9355https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC8809997biostudies-literatureUnknown12(2)Drought is one of the most important abiotic stressors that affect crop yield. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate correlations between germination-stage drought tolerance and the microscopic testa (i.e., seed coat) characteristics (color and papilla morphology) and imbibition abilities of 35 rapeseed (<i>Brassica napus</i> L.) accessions. After 2 h imbibition, seed water uptake (fresh weight increase) was significantly positively correlated with testa hue (<i>H</i>_HSB), brightness (<i>B</i>_HSB,), blue (<i>B</i>_RGB), and lightness (<i>L</i>*), with correlation coefficients of 0.38, 0.34, 0.53, and 0.36, respectively, and significantly negatively correlated with saturation (<i>S</i>_HSB), greenness-redness (<i>a</i>*), blueneBioengineeredEffects of microscopic testa color and morphologyon the water uptake ability and drought tolerance of germination-stage rapeseed (<i>Brassica napus</i> L.).PMC88099971908085MC682018YFD0100600Zhou KJLi YHe Zhu ZZhi Jin XSami AZhang HHang Lei YFatima MPeng Chen ZXu QQYin Zheng WYu YfalseEffects of microscopic testa color and morphologyon the water uptake ability and drought tolerance of germination-stage rapeseed (<i>Brassica napus</i> L.).Drought is one of the most important abiotic stressors that affect crop yield. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate correlations between germination-stage drought tolerance and the microscopic testa (i.e., seed coat) characteristics (color and papilla morphology) and imbibition abilities of 35 rapeseed (<i>Brassica napus</i> L.) accessions. After 2 h imbibition, seed water uptake (fresh weight increase) was significantly positively correlated with testa hue (<i>H</i>_HSB), brightness (<i>B</i>_HSB,), blue (<i>B</i>_RGB), and lightness (<i>L</i>*), with correlation coefficients of 0.38, 0.34, 0.53, and 0.36, respectively, and significantly negatively correlated with saturation (<i>S</i>_HSB), greenness-redness (<i>a</i>*), bluene2021-01-01T00:00:00Z2021 Dec2025-04-22T15:24:58.057Z2025-04-06T01:20:26.814ZS-EPMC88099973495155510.1080/21655979.2021.2000789