The effect of seed priming and aging on germination indices and activity of some hydrolytic enzymes and glyoxylate cycle in corn (Zea mays L.)

In order to investigate the effect of priming and aging on germination indices and activity of hydrolytic enzymes and cycle glyoxylate in corn seed, a factorial experiment was conducted based on completely randomized design at the University of Mohaghegh Ardabili in 2022 with 3 replications. Treatments were accelerated aging (control without aging, 11 and 13 days) and priming (control, hydro-priming, priming by gibberellin (20 mg lit-1) and salicylic acid (100 mg lit-1)).The results showed that aging of germination indicators including germination percentage (GR), Germination Rate (GR), Mean Daily Germination (MDG), Germination Coefficient (GC), Germination Value (GV) decreased, but priming with salicylic acid, hydro especially gibberellin improved these traits. The lowest Daily Germination Speed (DGS) and Mean Germination Time (MGT) were obtained in hydropriming, priming with salicylic acid, especially priming with gibberellin and the control (without priming). The amylase and malate synthase enzymes activity in gibberellin treatment and non-aged compared to the control showed an increase respectively about 71% and 26%. The most lipase enzyme activity (73.41 unit mg-1 protein) was observed in treatment with gibberellin. Aging decreased lipase enzyme activity. In general, using gibberellin pretreatment strengthened weak corn seeds the germination indices and activity of hydrolytic enzymes glyoxylate cycle and increased seedling growth.