Effect of Hydropriming and Osmopriming on Seedling Improvement of Two Rice Cultivars

In order to investigate the effect of hydropriming and osmopriming on the characteristics of experimental rice seedlings, the treatment was performed in a completely randomized design in three replications.Treatments included two rice cultivars (Tarom and Shiroudi) and priming at five levels including calcium chloride and potassium chloride priming (Ψs -1.25 MPa), ascorbate acid (10 mg l-1), hydropriming (for 48 hours) and control (no priming). In this study, seedling characteristics were measured. Interaction of cultivar and priming showed that the highest germination percentage was observed in the range of 97-100% in Shiroudi and Tarom cultivars primed with calcium chloride and potassium chloride. The lowest germination percentage (85.33% and 77.33%, respectively) was obtained under control in Shiroudi and Tarom cultivars, respectively. The highest germination rate was obtained in priming with calcium chloride and potassium chloride, which increased the germination rate by 52 and 54%, respectively. The effect of cultivar and priming on root and shoot length as well as root and shoot dry weight were significant at 1% probability level. also, root and shoot length were 5.97 and 5.4 cm in Shiroudi and 4.01 and 4.59 cm in Tarom, respectively. The results showed that priming with calcium chloride, potassium chloride, ascorbic acid and water increased seedling length vigor indices 69, 64, 13 and 32% in Shiroudi and 91, 70, 47 and 43% in Tarom, respectively compared to control. Also, priming with calcium chloride, potassium chloride, ascorbic acid and water increased seedling weight vigor indices by 110, 95, 50 and 47%, respectively.