BEHNAM BEHTARI
Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, Dept. of Crop Ecology, Iran
Low seed zone water potential and soil crushing caused by rain before seedling emergence frequently impede winter wheat stands. A split plot experimental in completely randomised design in three replications, involving petri dish and greenhouse was conducted to determine seed priming effects on winter wheat germination and emergence. Two native cultivars (Sardari and Sabalan) were used and assigned to main plot, and five priming treatments (check, water, KCl 2%, KH2PO4 0.5%, and PEG 10%) were allocated to the subplots.
The result revealed no significant differences between the germination of the KCl, KH2PO4, and PEG treatments.However there was a significant difference between the control and the water-based treatment with any of the primed seed treatments. The real difference was exhibited by the PEG treatment which germinated faster than the others treatments. The seed priming main effects for seedling number (emergence), tiller, E10, E20 and E50% were significant different in the greenhouse experiment. KCl, KH2PO4, and PEG treatments emergence were noticeably higher than the control. All the priming treatments produced a higher emergence count than the control at both 10 and 20 DAP. This advantage ranged from 54.7% to 42.2% respectively. Seed primed by KH2PO4 emerged 0.6 days faster than seeds that were primed with water only.
In conclusion, some priming media enhanced germination and emergence under petri dish and greenhouse conditions. Breeding efforts to develop standard height and tall winter wheat cultivars with long coleoptiles continues to offer the best hope for farmers in dry summer fallow regions where emergence is a major concern.
Keywords: Emergence, germination, plant establishment, seed priming, winter wheat