In order to study the difference in metabolic efficiency of the cotyledon and seedlings of soybean during germination, the authors assayed lactic dehydrogenase activities in the two tissues for the purpose of comparison, with the following conclusions.
1. The LDH activity in the cotyledon of soybean increases during the 3 days after germination, followed by abrupt decrease during the later 3 days of germination.
2. The LDH activity in the seedlings of soybean increases during the 3 days after germination under fairly good correlation with the variation observed in the cotyledon; but, unlike the cotyledon LDH, the activity remains high through the later 3days of germination.
3. It is, therefore, concluded that the metabolic efficiency in the cotyledon seems to begin to stop at the 3rd day following germination, while the efficiency in the seedlings remains high.
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