Effect of priming on millet (Panicum miliaceum) seed germination under drought and salt condition

• Main Authors: Hamdollah Eskandari, Ashraf Alizadeh-Amraie
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: Yasouj University 2014-05-01
• Series: پژوهش‌های بذر ایران
• Subjects: germination; priming; seedling growth; stress
• Online Access: http://yujs.yu.ac.ir/jisr/article-1-34-en.html

A laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of seed priming under salt and drought conditions on seed germination and early seedling development of millet. A factorial experiment (3×2×5) based on completely randomized design with three replications was employed. The first factor was the effect of seed priming (control, hydro priming and KNO3), the second factor was the effect of salt and drought stresses including NaCl and PEG 6000 and the third factor was the effect of osmotic potential levels (-0.3, -0.6, -0.9 and -1.2 MPa). Results showed that germination performance was negatively affected by decreasing osmotic potential. There was a variable germination with different stress condition, in which seeds were able to germinate at all concentration of NaCl but no significant germination was occurred at -0.6 MPa of PEG for no primed and KNO3. However, both seed priming treatments (Hydropriming and KNO3), improved seed germination performance with the clear effectiveness of Hydropriming in improving germination properties under salt and drought conditions. It was concluded that germination inhibition resulted from osmotic effect rather than salt toxicity.