Competence of different priming agents for increasing seed germination, seedling growth and vigor of wheat

Abstract

Wheat in Bangladesh under late sown conditions is often exposed to heat and moisture stresses resulting in poor growth and reduced yield. Seed priming can be a feasible tool to combat those abiotic stresses. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the efficacy of different seed priming agents for increasing seed emergence, seedling growth, and vigor of wheat. A laboratory experiment was conducted at the Agro Innovation Laboratory, Department of Agronomy, Bangladesh Agricultural University during the 2nd week of November in 2019 with the wheat variety BARI Gom-33. The experiment comprised the following two factors arranged in a completely randomized design with four replications; Factor A: Priming agent (23) namely; (i) Control (No priming) (ii) Hydropriming (distilled water) (iii) 10000 ppm NaCl (iv) 20000 ppm NaCl (v) 30000 ppm NaCl (vi) 50 ppm PEG (vii) 100 ppm PEG (viii) 150 ppm PEG (ix) 1 ppm Na₂MoO₄ (x) 2 ppm Na₂MoO₄ (xi) 3 ppm Na₂MoO₄ (xii) 5000 ppm ZnSO₄ (xiii) 10000 ppm ZnSO₄ (xiv) 15000 ppm ZnSO₄ (xv) 25 ppm CuSO₄ (xvi) 50 ppm CuSO₄ (xvii) 75 ppm CuSO₄ (xviii) 10000 ppm KCl (xix) 20000 ppm KCl (xx) 20000 ppm KCl (xxi) 10000 ppm CaCl₂ (xxii) 20000 ppm CaCl₂ (xxiii) 30000 ppm CaCl₂; Factor B: Priming duration (2); (i) 6 hours (ii) 12 hours. One hundred seeds were placed manually on moist sand maintaining more or less equal distance in each petri dish. Results revealed that seed priming has a positive impact (except CuSO₄ and ZnSO₄) on seed germination and seedling growth of wheat. Germination parameters and seedling growth traits were significantly affected by priming agents, and a clear advantage of seed priming over non control was evident. Seed priming for 12 hours performed better than 6 hours priming. Among the priming agents tried, CaCl₂ performed the best in terms of germination percent and index, root and shoot length, seedling length, dry weight and vigor were. It may therefore be concluded that seed priming can increase seed germination rate and improve seedling vigor of wheat to some extent, and pre-sowing seed priming with CaCl₂ for 6 hrs can be recommended for wheat.