Effect of Seed Hydropriming on Seedling Emergence and Growth of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) under Adverse Climatic Condition of Drought and Salinity

Aim: Assessment of influence of seed hydropriming in seed and seedling vigour enhancement for stress tolerance in chickpea which is important for successful crop production under erratic climate change causing drought and salinity stress severely affecting the seedling emergence and establishment especially in arid and semi arid regions of the world. Study Design: A three factorial randomised block design was used in the study, involving seed hydropriming treatment, chickpea varieties and growth conditions. Place and Duration of the Study: The experiment was conducted in Department of Seed Science and Technology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India, during the year 2018. Methodology: Six months old chickpea seeds of variety JG-11 and Annigeri-1 were hydroprimed for 12 hours at 25°C in dark condition. The primed and unprimed control seeds are sown under normal, drought and salinity conditions imposed in pots under controlled conditions. The data recorded were analysed for Analysis of Variance (ANNOVA). Results: The result of the experiment revealed that, upon seed hydropriming an average of 19 per cent increase in seedling emergence and 53.3 per cent increase in seedling vigour index was observed as compared to unprimed control seeds irrespective of variety and the abiotic stress conditions.

Seed priming improves the germination and growth rate of melon seedlings under saline stress / Condicionamento de sementes melhora a germinação e a taxa de crescimento das plântulas de melão sob estresse salino

ABSTRACT: The germination and growth of melon (Cucumis melo L.) plants can be severely affected by excess salts in the soil or irrigation water; however, negative effects of salt stress can be attenuated using appropriate methods of seed priming. Thus, effects of osmopriming as inducer of salt stress tolerance in melon seeds exposed to salinity levels were investigated in this study. Seeds were soaked for 22 h at 25 °C in the dark in distilled water (hydropriming) or 0.5% KNO3 solution (osmopriming), and after drying, were distributed in plastic boxes with blotter paper containing different NaCl solutions prepared with osmotic pressure of 0.0 MPa (control), -0.3 MPa (mild stress), and -0.6 MPa (severe stress). Unprimed dry seeds were taken as control. The plastic boxes were kept into a seed germinator, at 25 °C for 14 days. A completely randomized design in a 3 × 3 factorial schemes with four replicates of 25 seeds was used. Results showed that the seed priming with water and KNO3 may be successfully applied on melon seeds to alleviate the adverse effects of saline stress in initial stages of plant growth. However, under severe salt stress conditions, hydropriming should be used because it results in higher germination and initial growth rate of the seedlings when compared to the osmopriming. Use of unprimed seeds should not be adopted in cultivation areas affected by salinity because they result in low germination rate and reduced initial plant growth.

RESUMO: A germinação e o crescimento de plantas de melão (Cucumis melo L.) podem ser severamente afetadas pelo excesso de sais no solo ou na água de irrigação. No entanto, os efeitos negativos do estresse salino podem ser amenizados com o uso de métodos adequados de condicionamento das sementes. Assim, este estudo objetivou investigar os efeitos do osmocondicionamento como indutor da tolerância ao estresse salino em sementes de melão expostas à níveis de salinidade. As sementes foram imersas por 22 h à 25 °C em água destilada (hidrocondicionamento) ou em solução de 0,5% de KNO3 (osmocondicionamento). Após secagem, as sementes foram distribuídas em caixas plásticas com papel mata-borrão contendo as diferentes soluções de NaCl preparadas com potencial osmótico de 0,0 MPa (controle), -0,3 MPa (estresse suave) e -0,6 MPa (estresse severo). Um tratamento com sementes secas não condicionadas foi utilizado como controle. As caixas plásticas foram mantidas em germinador de sementes, a 25 °C por 14 dias. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado, em esquema fatorial 3 × 3, com quatro repetições de 25 sementes. Os resultados mostraram que o condicionamento de sementes com água e KNO3 pode ser aplicado com sucesso em sementes de melão para amenizar os efeitos adversos do estresse salino durante o estágio inicial de crescimento das plantas. No entanto, sob estresse salino severo, o hidrocondicionamento deve ser utilizado por resultar em maior percentagem de germinação e maior taxa de crescimento inicial das plântulas quando comparado ao osmocondicionamento. O uso de sementes de melão sem condicionamento prévio não deve ser adotado em áreas de cultivo afetadas pela salinidade, pois resultam em baixa taxa de germinação e reduzido crescimento inicial das plantas.