Effect of safflower seeds priming with abscisic and gibberellic acid on germination indices in salinity stress condition

Subject Areas : Agroecology Journal

Nasrin Sadat Esanejad ¹ , Heshmat Omidi ² , Arezoo Paraver ³

1 - Master of Agronomy Agriculture Faculty Shahed University Tehran, Iran
2 - Associate professor of Agronomy Department Agriculture Faculty Shahed University Tehran, Iran
3 - Master of Agronomy Agriculture Faculty Shahed University Tehran, Iran

Received: 2015-11-10 Accepted : 2016-02-07 Published : 2016-02-20

Keywords: o water deficit stress, o combined priming, o hormonal priming, o seed priming, o water potential,

Abstract :

This study was carried out to determine the effect of hormonal priming to improve seed germination and initial growth of safflower seeds under salt stress. The experiment was done using factorial experiment based on completely randomized design in three repetitions in Seed Technology Laboratory of Shahed University. Safflower seeds primed with 3% abscisic acid and 150 and 500 ppm of gibberellic acid then were placed under salinity stress condition of the natural salt of Qom lake (0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 dS.m -1). The germination indicies were measured. Priming seeds with gibberellic and abscisic acid relatively reduced the effect of salinity on seed germination and seedling growth and improved the germination and initial growth in low water potential condition. Gibberllic acid was more effective than abscisic acid. Priming with combination of 500 ppm gibberellic acid and 3% abscisic acid % combination had the greatest effect on germination percent, seedling length and seedling dry matter. Howerer, priming decreased the mean germination time. Priming with 500 ppm gibberellic acid and 3% abscisic acid combination under salinity conditions reduced the negative effects of salinity by increasing the water uptake in the plant, resulted in improvement of germination percentage, seedling length and seedling dry matter and length and weight vigor indecies. On the whole, priming of safflower seeds with combined priming increased the seeds resistance to the drought stress, therefore the seedlings with strong vigor and high germination percentage were produced.