Table III.

Free and esterified ABA in embryos with or without water loss

Treatment	Free ABA	ABA-GE
	pmol/mg fresh wt
Freshly harvested	10.2  ± 0.7	3.5  ± 0.2
6 d at 90% RH	11.8  ± 1.1	5.3  ± 0.5
6 d at 100% RH	8.7  ± 0.8	2.6  ± 0.3

Detached grains aged 22 daa were kept at 90% or 100% RH for 6 d, during which time the water content of the embryos decreased to about 68% or remained at about 74%, respectively. Free ABA and its glucopyranosyl ester (ABA-GE) in the embryos were determined by HPLC-ELISA method. All values are means ± se of five replicates.