Effects of Potassium Nitrate on Germination Characteristics and Early Growth of Sunflower under Salinity and Drought Stresses

In order to study the effect of priming sunflower seeds by potassium nitrate on germination seeds was conducted experiments in salinity and drought conditions. Location of experiments was Physiology Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Bu Ali Sina University, Hamedan. Salinity experiment was conducted as factorial based on randomized complete block design (RCBD) with two factor of seed priming and salinity and three replications. Priming levels included control and seed treatment by potassium nitrate and salinity levels included 0, -2, -4, -6, and -8 bar. Also, drought experiment was conducted as factorial based on randomized complete block design (RCBD) with two factor of seed priming and drought levels in three replications. Drought experiment treatment included control (non-priming) and priming by potassium nitrate and drought stress treatment were five levels (0, -2, -4, -6, and -8 bar). The results of two experiments showed that increasing in salinity and drought stress, decreased germination components including germination, germination rate and dry weight of seedlings. However, this reduction was lower for seeds that were treated by potassium nitrate. In terms of the studied traits, at all of the levels of salinity and drought treatment seeds were better than control seeds. In general, it can be concluded that the priming of sunflower seeds by potassium nitrate improved the germination components under salinity and drought stress and can increase sunflower plant resistant against these stresses in the germination stage.