The effect of priming treatments on salinity tolerance of Festuca arundinacea Schreb and Festuca ovina L. seeds during germination and early growth

Priming is highly used for germination improvment of seeds under environmental stress. The research was conducted to study the effect of NaCl priming and hydropriming on germination and early growth of Festuca arundinacea and Festuca ovina seeds under salinity stress. First factor was plant species, the second was pre-treatment priming (NaCl priming with three concenterations, 15, 30 and 45 dS/m at 24 hours, hydropriming at 24 hours and control). The third factor was salinity stress of zero, 5, 10, 15 and 20 dS/m at germination stage. In all priming treatments, germination percent, at high salinity (10-20 dS/m) and the attributes recorded at different salinity level in Festuca arundinacea showed significant differences with Festuca ovina. Priming caused reduction on mean germination time and germination percent, root length, shoot length and vigor index on both species, compared to the control. Generally, considering different attributes recorded on Festuca arundinacea the seeds under NaCl priming with concentrations of 15 and 45 dS/m and in Festuca ovina under NaCl priming with concentration 45 dS/m had the highest performance among the treatments. Generally, seed priming particularly NaCl priming, as a physiologic treatment improved seed performance of both species at germination and early growth stages under salinity stress.