Seed priming, partial hydration of seeds followed by re-drying before sowing, is found to improve germination rate and seedling growth through triggering some physiological changes and exhilarating the enzyme activities. 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 than6 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.
Key words: Seed invigoration, seed emergence, germination coefficient, seedling vigor, wheat
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