Seed priming is a pre-germination technique that improves seed performance under stress. The document discusses seed priming techniques for improving salt tolerance in horticultural crops. It describes various priming methods and their modes of action, including physiological and biochemical changes. Tables and figures show the effects of priming agents like KNO3, NaCl, and hormones on metrics like germination rate and seedling growth of crops like amaranth, marigold, cucumber, and tomato under saline conditions. Primed seeds demonstrated enhanced salt tolerance compared to unprimed seeds. The conclusion states that priming develops defense mechanisms that help seeds better tolerate salinity stress.

1. Welcome to My Seminar Paper
Presentation
Presented by
Samar Biswas
Reg. No: 12-04789
Department of Horticulture

2. My topic is..
SALT TOLERANCE IMPROVEMENT OF
HORTICULTURAL CROPS THROUGH
SEED PRIMING
1

3. Introduction

4. What is seed priming?
Seed priming is a simple pre-germination
strategy to improve seed performance and
alleviate the negative effects associated with
stress exposure.
2

5. Present Salinity condition in
Bangladesh
 About 0.83 millions hectares are arable lands
of the coastal and offshore areas, which cover
over 30% of the total cultivable lands of
Bangladesh. (Petersen & Shireen, 2001)
 Depending on a study of the Soil Resources
Development Institute (SRDI, 2010) an
average increase of salinity is about 0.74% per
year.
3

6. How Salinity hamper plant Growth?
 Salinity causes unfavorable environment and
hydrological situation that restrict normal crop
production.
 Salinity reduces seed germination and
lengthens the time needed for germination.
4

7. Importance of seed priming
 Rapid and uniform field emergence.
 Primed seeds produced higher germination rate
and greater germination percentage.
 The primed seeds increased the total sugars
and α-amylase activity and exhibited earlier
initiation of protein, RNA and DNA synthesis.
 The treated seeds less sensitive to temperature
and oxygen deprivation
5

8. Objective of the study
 To know the benefits of seed priming for salt
stress management of horticultural crops.
 To understand the performance of
standardized seed priming technique.
6

9. MATERIALS AND METHODS

10. This paper mainly depends on
secondary data.
 It has been prepared by comprehensive studies of
various articles published in different journals.
 Books and proceedings available in the libraries of
SAU.
 MS & PhD thesis paper of SAU, BAU and other
sources.
 Consulting with my Supervisor.
7

11. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

12. Seed priming techniques
Seed priming have various techniques for
improving the performance of the growth,
emergence, and yield of the crop.
There are some techniques which are
I. Hydro-priming
II. Halopriming
III. Osmopriming and
IV.Hormonal priming.
8

13. Hydro-priming
Hydro-priming involves soaking the seeds in
water before sowing (Pill and Necker, 2001)
and may or may not be followed by air-drying
of the seeds. It is the most common seed
priming technique.
9

14. Halo priming
Halo priming refers to soaking of seeds in
solution of inorganic salts i.e. NaCl, KNO3 CaCl2,
CaSO4, etc.
10

15. Osmopriming
This is also known as osmo-conditioning or
osmotic conditioning. In this technique, seeds are
soaked for a certain period in solutions of sugar,
polyethylene glycol (PEG), glycerol, sorbitol, or
mannitol followed by air drying before sowing.
11

16. Hormonal priming
Hormonal priming is the pre seed treatment with
different hormones i.e. salicylic acid, ascorbate,
kinetin, etc. which promote the growth and
development of the seedlings.
12

17. Mode of Action
13
Fig. Mode of action of seed priming

18. Seed priming process
(Farooq et al., 2006)
 A quantity of 25 grams of seeds sterilized with sodium
hypochlorite solution (1%) for 3 minutes.
 Then thoroughly washed for 5 minutes with distilled
water.
 For KCl priming, Seeds primed with 10 millimoles (mM)
of KCl solution for 36 h.
 For NaCl priming, Seeds primed with 50 mM of NaCl
solution for 24 h.
 For hydropriming, Seeds soaked in distilled water for
the same duration.
14

19. Physiological changes induced by
priming
 The swelling of the embryo and speed up
germination by facilitating water absorption.
 Seed priming stimulates the pre-germination
metabolic processes and make the seed ready
for radicle protrusion
15

20. Biochemical and Molecular changes
induced by priming
 These changes include cell division and
elongation, plasma membrane fluidity, the
induction of stress-responsive proteins
 Priming increase the activity of many enzymes
involved in metabolism of carbohydrates (α
and β amylases), proteins (proteases) and
lipids mobilization (isocitrate lyase).
16

21. Influence of some priming agents
on salt tolerance in primed seeds
I. Distilled Water
II. KNO3
III. CaCl2
IV. NaCl
V. KCl
VI. Polyethylene glycol
Some Priming Agents are given below
17

22. Effect of seed priming on seedling emergence of
amaranth under salinity
Figure 1. Effects of NaCl concentrations on seedling emergence of amaranth
seedlings derived from non-primed seeds (NP) and seeds primed with NaCl (P1),
CaSO4 (P2) or NaCl + CaSO 4 (P3). Mean separation by Tukey’s t- test. For each
genotype bars followed by the same letter are not significantly different at P = 0.05.
(Source: Omami 2005) 18

23. Table 1.Effects of salinity and seed priming on shoot
length, root length, shoot dry mass and root dry mass of
amaranth 21 days after emergence (Source: Omami 2005)
SEM: Standard error of the mean
Seeds were either not primed (NP) or primed with NaCl (P1), CaSO4 (P2) or NaCl+CaSO4
(P3). Mean separation by Turkey’s t-test. Means followed by the same letter along the
column are not significantly different at P = 0.05. (Modified)
Main effects
Shoot length
(mm)
Root length
(mm)
Shoot dry mass
(g/plant)
Root dry mass
(g/plant)
NaCl level (mM)
0 44.12a 46.25a 0.27a 0.18a
25 32.25b 38.49b 0.20b 0.12b
50 24.12c 29.87c 0.16c 0.09c
100 17.37d 22.50d 0.12d 0.06d
SEM 0.58 0.58 0.006 0.004
Priming
NP 24.37d 27.87d 0.13d 0.07d
P1 27.62c 32.12c 0.16c 0.10c
P2 31.12b 36.25b 0.21b 0.13b
P3 34.75a 40.87a 0.24a 0.16a
SEM 0.58 0.58 0.006 0.004
19

24. Table 2. Final germination and time to 50%
germination of French marigold, influenced by seed
priming (Source: Afjal et. al. 2017) (Modified)
SA – salicylic acid, AsA – ascorbate. Means with the same letters don’t differ significantly at P < 0. 05
Final germination (%)
Priming treatments 0 mM NaCl
50 mM
NaCl
100 mM
NaCl
Untreated seeds 74.00 h 72.00 i 70.00 j
Hydropriming 86.66 e 84.00 f 77.33 g
Priming with CaCl2 92.00 bc 90.66 cd 90.00 d
Priming with SA 94.66 a 86.66 e 84.00 f
Priming with AsA 94.66 a 93.33 a 92.00 bc
LSD at 0.05 = 1.5311
Time to 50%
germination (days)
Untreated seeds 2.17 c 2.86 a 2.73 b
Hydropriming 1.56 h 1.43 k 1.79 d
Priming with CaCl2 1.41 l 1.50 j 1.74 e
Priming with SA 1.52 i 1.60 g 1.65 f
Priming with AsA 1.32 m 1.60 g 1.44 k
LSD at 0.05 = 0.0131
20

25. Table 3. Root length, shoot length of French
marigold, influenced by seed priming, under saline
Condition(Source: Afjal et. al. 2017)(Modified)
SA – salicylic acid, AsA – ascorbate. Means with th e same letters don’t differ significantly at
P < 0.
Root length (cm)
Priming treatments 0 mM NaCl 50 mM NaCl 100 mM NaCl
Untreated seeds 4.53 h 4.12 hi 3.70 m
Hydropriming 5.09 c 4.52 h 3.91 l
Priming with CaCl2 5.22 b 4.64 g 4.23 j
Priming with SA 5.04 d 4.86 f 4.25 i
Priming with AsA 5.55 a 4.91 e 4.87 f
LSD at 0.05 = 0.0153
Shoot length (cm)
Untreated seeds 4.33 j 4.06 m 3.93 n
Hydropriming 4.77 e 4.30 k 4.25 l
Priming with CaCl2 5.03 b 4.72 f 4.54 h
Priming with SA 4.87 c 4.55 h 4.51 i
Priming with AsA 5.34 a 4.84 d 4.64 g
LSD at 0.05 = 0.0168
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26. Effect of KNO3 priming and salt stress on hypocotyl
length and radicle length of Cucumber seedling
FIGURE 2. Effects of salt stress and KNO3 on hypocotyl length (A), radicle length
(B), of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L., cv. Aodai Melhorado) from seeds subjected
to priming with.(Modified) (Source: Oliveira & Steiner 2017)(Modified)
22
Salinity level(mMol) Salinity level(mMol)

27. Effect of KNO3 priming and salt stress on total dry
matter and shoot root dry matter of Cucumber
FIGURE 3. Effects of salt stress and KNO3 on total dry matter (E) and shoot: root dry
matter (F) of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L., cv. Aodai Melhorado) from seeds
subjected to priming with. (Source: Oliveira & Steiner 2017)
23

28. Effect of seed priming on final emergence percentage of
hot pepper under saline condition
Figure 4. Effect of NaCl priming on final emergence (%) of hot pepper under
saline conditions. (Source: Khan et. al. 2009)
24

29. Effect of seed priming on emergence speed of hot pepper
under saline condition
Figure 5. Effect of NaCl priming on emergence speed of hot pepper under
saline conditions (Source: Khan et. al. 2009)
25

30. Effect of seed priming on vigor index of hot pepper under
saline condition
Figure 6. Effect of NaCl priming on vigour index of seedlings of hot pepper
under saline conditions . (Source: Khan et. al. 2009)
26

31. Effect of seed priming on final germination of tomato
under saline condition
Figure 7: Interaction effect of different priming treatments and levels of salinity on
final germination percent . (Source: Ebrahimi et. al. 2014)
27
Salinity level
FinalgerminationPercentage

32. Effect of seed priming on dry shoot weight of tomato
under saline condition
Figure 8. Interaction effect of different priming treatments and levels of salinity on
dry shoot weight of tomato. (Source: Ebrahimi et. al. 2014).
28
Dryshootweight
Salinity level

33. Conclusion

34.  Seed priming could develop different defense
mechanisms in horticultural crop seeds against
salinity stress, such as antioxidant defense system
and osmotic adjustment.
 These mechanisms form a 'priming memory' in
seeds can be recruited upon a later salinity stress-
exposure and provokes greater stress tolerance of
germinating primed seeds.
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35. Any Query?
Thank You