Effects of hydropriming and ultrasonic waves on seed leakage and germination of Artemisia (Artemisia aucheri L.)

Due to the importance of using medicinal plants in curing diseases in one hand and disturbance of natural habitats in the other hand, their domestication and intensive cultivation are necessary. One of the problems in the propagation of these plants is seed dormancy. Therefore, finding low cost and efficient breaking seed dormancy treatments for Artemisia (Artemisia aucheri) is necessary. In this research, effects of ultrasonic waves and hydropriming on seed germination of Artemisia were evaluated in an experiment as factorial in the base of completely randomized design with three replications in the faculty of agriculture, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran. Both primed (hydro-priming for 7 hours) and non-primed seeds exposed to ultrasonic waves (0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 min of 50 KH) and germination test were done. Results showed that all studied germination and seedling parameters were affected by ultrasonic waves significantly. Effect of hydro-priming was significant on germination percentage and speed, root and radicle lengths, seedling dry weight and seed electrical conductivity. Ion leakage was decreased by increasing in duration of ultrasonic waves; this phenomenon was more obvious in hydro-primed seed in comparison to non-primed one. The highest germination percentage and speed were obtained by hydro-priming +10 min ultrasonic waves. Therefore, according to the conventional time-consumed seed dormancy breaking methods, the use of ultrasound as a new technology to break dormancy as an alternative to older methods is recommended.