Effect of Pre-Sowing Seed Treatments on Germination Traits and Early Seedling Growth of Eldar Pine

Seed energy and seed vigour are the most important qualitative attributes influencing plant’s growth and establishment that can be improved by techniques generally known as seed priming, which enhances the percentage, speed and uniformity of germination. Effect of various priming techniques was conducted on seed germination and seedling’s early growth of elder pine (Pinus eldarica Medw.) in Seed Technology Lab of Natural Resources Faculty, Tarbiat Modares University, Iran.
Seeds were treated through hydropriming with distilled water, halopriming with NaCl at -4 and -8 bar concentrations, osmopriming with polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG 6000) at -4 and -8 bar concentrations and hormonopriming with salicylic acid (SA) at 1 and 2 mM solutions for 48 h. Un-primed dry seeds were taken as control. The seeds were kept in germinator at 20 ± 0.5 °C, 65% relative humidity and 16.8 h light/dark photoperiod for 42 days.
The highest germination percentage (92%) and germination speed (5.13 seeds/day) were obtained with hydropriming. The best results to improve germination energy, time to 50% germination, seedling length, seedling dry weight and seedling vigour index were achieved with hydropriming and hormonalpriming 1 and 2 mM. Osmopriming and halopriming -8 bar compared to control in most mentioned traits showed poor performance.
Hydropriming and hormonalpriming can be suitable techniques to support nursery practices of elder pine seed in order to improve germination percentage, emergence and early seedling growth.