Determination of gibberellic acid and abscisic acid in (Zea mays L.) (ICA-V305) seeds germinated using dynamic sonication assisted solvent extraction and maceration

Phytohormones are molecules responsible for growth, development, and metabolism regulation in plants. Gibberellic acid (GA(3)) and abscisic acid (ABA) are the main phytohormones involved in seed germination. Notably, it should be a highlight that GA(3) induces germination, whereas ABA inhibits it. For this reason, it is important to calculate the concentration of these two phytohormones during seeds germination. Firstly, the maize seeds (MS) were germinated and samples of these were taken at different imbibition times, after that, methanol extracts were obtained using two methods of dynamic solvent extraction assisted by sonication (DSASE) and a traditional extraction method (maceration); finally, to estimate the concentration of GA(3) and ABA a high performance liquid chromatographic method was used. The results of this study showed that the three extraction methods used, allowed quantifying GA(3) and ABA during the maize germination time studied. However, of the two extraction methods employed, DSASE was the best technique because higher concentrations of GA(3) • The extraction protocol developed was based on dynamic sonication-assisted solvent extraction. • The chromatographic method used allowed the simultaneous determination of two phytohormones with different physicochemical properties in maize seeds. • This methodology offers good sensitivity, linearity, precision, reproducibility and suitable detection and quantification limits.