Seed priming technique

disgorge terra firma proficiencyAbstractSeed dry land is a technique by which sow ins are part hydrated to a point where sprouting processes begin but radical number does not occur. Priming can be raise effective some(prenominal) for legumes and grain crops. A pot experiment was conducted under green house conditions at Pir Mehr Ali shah, Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi during summer of 2007. The sows were in naughtated by traditional drenching (hydro basis), osmo-conditioning ( soakage of disgorges in charged, low-water-potential solutions) exploitation, potassium di-hydrogen phosphate KH2PO4, Mannitol, Polyethylene diol (PEG), sodium molybdate (Na2MO4.2H2O) and hormonal priming by using salicylic acid (SA). The ranges of osmotic potential for both the priming interferences were -0.5 to -1.2 M Pa. any the in wholeheartednessation treatments significantly affected plant vigor, biomass, root, shoot duration and nodulation. Osmopriming using P 0.60% applied in the form of KH2PO4 significantly amend seed vigour in terms of mean emergence time (5.52 to 4.51 days), final germination percentage (74 to 89%) root and shoot distance and nodulation (0 to 4 nodules seedling-1) followed by mannitol priming (Mannitol 2%). Overall all the seed priming techniques significantly improved the vigour of mungbean seedlings as compare to control. The use of polythene glycol is expensive and gave similar results as for dry seeding so it should be replaced by hydropriming in further experiments. It is recommended that nutrient-priming and osmopriming can be used as effective tool for invigoration of mungbean seeds, for better growth and seedling make-up.Key words Osmo-priming, hydropriming, vigna radiata, seedling vigour, nodulationINTRODUCTIONSeed priming is a practice by which seeds are partly hydrated to a point where germination processes begin but radical emergence does not occur (Harris et al., 2000). Seed priming can be found effective for l egumes i.e., leaves of Mungbean and Chickpea were increased substantially by priming seeds for 8 h before sowing (Harris et al., 1999 Musa et al., 2001 Rashid et al., 2004).Mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek) is grown on over 200,000 ha with achievement of more than 100,000 t under rainfed and irrigated conditions in Pakistan. Yields for the rainfed area are generally low and variable overdue to sparse, erratic rainwater and marginal soils. Mungbean production in Punjab Province is dependent mainly on airfoil irrigation but it is also grown under rain fed conditions. In the Southern region of Pakistan rainfall is scanty and mungbean is grown with surface irrigation only. Poor crop brass instrument is a major restraint for mungbean production (Naseem et. al., 1997 Rahmianna et al., 2000) and high school yields can be associated with early vigor (Kumar et al., 1989).Improved seed invigoration techniques are being used to reduce the germination time, to get synchronized germi nation, improve germination rate, and improve seedling stand in many horticultural (Bradford et al. 1990 Rudrapal and Nakamura 1998) and field crops like stalk, stinker (Aquilla and Tritto 1991 Basra et al. 2002) and more recently strain (Farooq et al. 2004). These invigoration techniques include hydropriming, osmoconditioning (Basra et al. 2005), osmohardening (Farooq et al. 2006) and hardening (Farooq et al. 2004). These treatments can also be assiduous for earlier and better nursery stand establishment (Lee et al. 1998).This study was initiated to explore the effects of aerated hydration, hormonal priming (salicylic acid), nutrient priming (Phosphorous and molybdenum loading) and osmo-conditioning on mungbean (vigna radiata) seed vigour under green house conditions.MATERIALS AND METHODSSeed materialSeeds of mungbean cultivar Chakwal Mung-97 (CH-MUNG 97) were obtained from Barani Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Chakwal. The seeds were sterilized by using 30% hypochlori te for quintet minutes and then washed three times with distilled water.Seed TreatmentsThe following seed priming treatments were appliedNutrient primingThe seeds were soaked in aerated solution of phosphorous (P 0.60 1.20 %) and molybdate (Mo 0.02 0.04 %). The sources for phosphorous and molybdenum were potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KH2PO4) and sodium molybdate (Na2MoO4.2H2O), respectively.OsmoprimingThe seeds were soaked in aerated solutions of mannitol (mannitol 2 % 4 %) and polyethylene glycole (Polyethylene glycol 5% 10%).Hormonal primingThe seeds were soaked in aerated solution of salicylic acid (SA 10 20 ppm)Post treatment operations aft(prenominal)wards seed treatments the seeds were given surface washing three times by distilled water. Aeration was also applied by pump. Air dried soil was placed in 10-cm tall plastic pots with 6-cm diameter. The soil used in the pot experiment was sandy loam having pH of 7.9. Soil was made friable by scratching the surface wit h a two cm wide table fork to a depth of 1-cm of moist soil. The seeds were also inoculated before sowing. Ten numbers of seeds were planted in each pot and thinned to six plants per pot. Similar amount of water applied in regular intervals to all pots under study. The plants were harvested 21 days after sowing (DAS), and seedlings root/shoot length were taken. The seedlings were dried at 75 oC for 48 hours and the dry matter was finally determined. The complete randomized design (CRD) was used in pot experiment. psychoanalysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare treatment means.RESULTSThe data showed that unalike seed priming treatments had significant (pThere was significant (pThere was significant (pThe data depicts that seed priming had significant impact on the root as well as shoot length, 21 days after sowing (DAS). All the priming treatments significantly increased the root as well as shoot length of seedlings. The data revealed that T5 (P 0.60%) and T9 (mannitol 2 % ) gave the best results. The lowest root length (4.56 cm) was observed in control. T4 (Mo 0.04%) showed give way out root length than T2 and T3 (Mo 0.02 %) and higher from control. Treatment T6 (P 1.2%) showed lower root length than T5 (P 0.06%) and at par with T1 and T4. Hormonal priming using salicylic acid (SA 20 ppm) also showed lower root length than T7 (SA 10 ppm) and at par with T4 and T6. The data also showed that T10 (mannitol 4%) is lower than T9 (mannitol 2%) and at par with T7. The data also depicts that T12 (PEG 10%) showed lower root length as compare to T11 (PEG 5 %) which showed also higher root length than all other treatments except T2 and T9 (Figure 1).Maximum shoot length observed in the T5 (P 0.06 %) followed by T9 (mannitol 2%). The data also depicts the shortest shoot length was observed in the control. The data also revealed that T4 resulted in lower shoot length than T3 and T2. It is also evident that T6 is lower than T5 and at par with T3 and T2 (Figure 1). T8 showed higher shoot length than T7 and at par with T2, T3 and T6. Treatments T9 and T10 and T11, T12 also showed similar results.DiscussionEarlier and more uniform germination and emergence was observed in primed seeds as indicated by lower MET and E50, higher germination percent and root and shoot dry weight (tables 1). Lesser MET and E50 specify the earlier and rapid germination. These findings support the prior work on canola (Brassica compestris) (Zheng et al., 1994), wheat berry (Triticum aestivum) (Nayyar et al., 1995) and rice (Oryza sativa) (Lee and Kim 2000 Basra et al., 2003) who described improved germination rate and percentage in seeds subjected to hydropriming and seed hardening for 24 h.This study revealed that osmo, nutrient and hormonal priming could invigorate mungbean seeds. One of the reasons for decreased MET is that during pre-sowing seed treatments the dormancy of the seed is broken and the seed bio-chemical processes commences, which lead t o faster germination and emergence (Farooq et al., 2006). Seed priming ensured the seemly hydration, which resulted in enhanced activity of a-amylase that hydrolyzed the macro starch molecules in to smaller and simple sugars. The availability of instant food to the germinating seed gave a vigorous start as indicated by lower E50 and MET in treated seeds (Farooq et al.,2006) during priming de novo synthesis of a-amylase is also documented (Lee and Kim, 2000). Early emergence as indicated by lower E50 and MET in treated seeds may be due to the faster production of germination metabolites (Saha et al. 1990 Lee Kim 2000 Basra et al. 2005) and better genetic repair, i.e. earlier and faster synthesis of DNA, RNA and proteins (Bray et al. 1989). color in and Steckel (1983) also reason that priming increased embryo length, which resulted in early initiation of germination in carrot seeds.The increased shoot and root length in primed plants can be due to metabolic repair of damage during treatment and that change in germination events i.e., changes in enzyme concentration and make-up and reduction of lag time between imbibition and radicle emergence (Bradford et al., 1990). Treated seeds had stronger embryos that were able to more easily emerge from seeds (Harris et al., 2005). These results are also in zephyr with the findings of Sekiya et al. (2009) who reported enhanced root and shoot length of seedlings obtained from P enriched seeds. To contribute to plant growth and development seed priming has been widely reported technique (Harris et al., 2005). Ajouri et al. (2004) reported a stimulation of P and Zn uptake, as well as an improved germination and seedling growth in barley after soaking seeds in water and in solutions containing 5-500 mM P.It has been also reported invigorated seeds had higher vigour levels (Ruan et al. 2002), which resulted in earlier start of emergence as high vigour seed lots performed better than low vigour ones (Hampton and Tekrony 199 5). Yamauchi and Winn (1996) also reported positive correlation between seed vigour and field performance in rice.Earlier, Zheng et al. (2002) reported earlier and uniform emergence in rice seeds osmoprimed with KCl and CaCl2 and mixed salts under flooded conditions. Hydropriming improved the early and vigorous crop establishment in maize (Nagar et al. 1998) and Helichrysum bracteatum L. (Grzesik Nowak 1998). However, other studies resulted in poor emergence from hydroprimed Kentucky bluegrass seeds under field conditions (Pill Necker 2001). However Nascimento and West (1999) reported early germination of primed seeds but not recorded any improvement in the growth of seedlings in muskmelon seeds under laboratory conditions. Confounding results, where priming did not show any beneficial results, also reported by different research workers (Mwale et al., 2003 Giri and Schillinger, 2003).The increase of nodulation, seedling vigor and tolerance to stresses may depend on unhomogeneous factors occurring during priming treatment. One hypothesis is that benefits of priming can be due to metabolic repair of damage during treatment and that change in germination events i.e., changes in enzyme concentration and formation and reduces lag time between imbibition and radicle emergence (Bradford et al., 1990). One of the possible reasons for early nodule formation may be due to enhanced activity of a-amylase and sucrose synthase in primed seeds which may facilitate plant growth and vigor (Lee and Kim, 2000).From the present study it may be concluded that seed priming may enhance the seedling vigour of mungbean. Nutrient priming using phosphorous and osmopriming with mannitol were the most efficient priming treatments in this study. In further research work biochemical basis for the enhanced phenology of mungbean may be evaluated.REFERENCESAquilla D. A., V. Tritto. 1991. Germination and biochemical activities in wheat seeds following delayed harvesting, senescent and osmo tic priming. Seed Sci.Tech.1973 82.Anonymous.2009. Agriculture statistics of Pakistan. Ministry of Food,Agriculture and Livestock. Economic wing, Islamabad. Pp. 46-47.Association of Official Seed Analysis (AOSA). 1998. Rules for testing seeds. J. 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