Improvement of seed germination, growth and biochemistry characteristic of borage seedling from deteriorated seeds under salinity stress using ascorbic acid pretreatment

Borage is one of the important medicinal plants with unequal and poor seed germination as a result of deterioration during storage. With attention to abundance of salty water and soils in country, this research was contacted to study of the effect of priming and deterioration of seed on germination, growth and biochemistry characteristic of borage under salinity stress. The experimental treatments were salinity stress, seed priming and deterioration duration (0, 8 and 14 hours). The results showed that percentage and rate of germination, seedling dry weight and length and weight were decreased with increasing of salinity stress levels and duration of deterioration. Seedlings dry weight loss was about 75% to 78% under salinity stress. Activity of peroxidase and catalase enzymes and proline content in seedling were increased under salinity stress, and this increase in seedlings from primed seeds was significantly higher than those of control seeds. Seed priming significantly increased the seed germination, growth and prolin content of seedling in both salinity stress and deterioration conditions. Seed priming caused a 1.6 and 2.5- fold increase in the catalase activity of seedlings derived from undeteriorated and deteriorated (14 hours) seeds, respectively. Generally, seed priming with ascorbic acid was reduced the negative effects of salinity stress and deterioration through increasing seed vigor and improving the biochemical properties of seedlings, and led to improve the seed germination and seedling growth under favorable and unfavorable conditions.