The Effect of priming by salicylic acid on vigor and seedling growth of canola (Brassica napus) under water deficit condition

One of the effects of reducing water levels in soil is reduction of in growth and development of seedlings. It is found that seed priming improves some properties of seed and seedling and the next plants. The effect of seed priming by salicylic acid on some properties of rapeseed cv. RGS300 in early growth stages under water shortage conditions was evaluated. Factorial experiment in completely randomized design was performed. The treatments were soil moisture in field capacity (control) and 70% and 50% field capacity and priming with SA at zero, 750, 1500 and 2250 µM levels. The results showed that the priming effects by SA on percent of emergence, emergence index, fresh and dry weight of seedling leaves, leaf and cotyledon area, mean emergence time (MTE), time speared of emergence (TSE), shoot length and specific leaf weight (SLW) were significant and the highest emergence percentage, emergence index, fresh and dry weight of seedling leaves, leaf and cotyledons area, plant height, SLW and lowest MTE and TSE were found to be 1500 µM concentrations of salicylic acid. In fact, SA through reducing days of planting to uniform emergence of seeds and inducing vigourius seedlings could lead to maximize the amount of dry weight of seedlings. Also, results showed the lowest values observed in non primed seeds and treated seeds with 750 µM SA concentrations. Leaf number affected only by soil water levels and priming by SA had not any effects on this character.