Meta-analysis of seed priming effects on seed germination, seedling emergence and crop yield: Iranian studies

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding Sciences, College of Abourahian, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Agronomy Group, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan 49138-15739, Iran.

Abstract

A large body of research has documented the effect of seed priming on
germination, emergence and crop yield. In such research, seed priming has been
found to have a positive, negative or no effect. Meta-analysis can help to
summarize and interpret a collection of experiments. The aim of this study was to
conduct a meta-analysis to synthesize published data from studies addressing the
effect of seed priming in Iran. Our results indicated that seed priming profoundly
influences germination (rate or percentage), seedling emergence (rate or
percentage) and crop yield. Among the studied traits, the crop yield increased the
most (+28%), followed by the seedling emergence percentage (+19%), the
germination rate (+17%), the seedling emergence rate (+15%) and the germination
percentage (+4%). In general, hormonal priming was the best seed priming
treatment. This was followed by hydropriming and osmopriming. The best priming
durations were 12-24 h for the germination percentage (+14%), longer than 24 h
for the germination rate (+16%), shorter than 24 h for the seedling emergence rate
(+10 to + 14%) and the percentage (about +11%) and shorter than 12 h for the crop
yield (+26%). Seed priming significantly increased in all of the traits of eudicots
and monocots, except for the germination percentage in monocots. The differences
were significant between the monocot and eudicot species in the germination stage.
The differences became insignificant in the seedling emergence and crop yield.
Finally, it was concluded that hydropriming is a practical treatment. This is due to
its low cost and beneficial effects. We additionally concluded that durations shorter
than 12 h are the most effective for this priming.

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