Benefits of rice seed priming are offset permanently by prolonged storage and the storage conditions.

Saddam Hussain,Lixiao Nie,Shaobing Peng,Fahad Khan,Kehui Cui,Shah Fahad,Manman Zheng,Abdul Khaliq,Jianliang Huang

doi:10.1038/srep08101

Saddam Hussain, Lixiao Nie + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep08101

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Abstract

Seed priming is a commercially successful practice, but reduced longevity of primed seeds during storage may limit its application. We established a series of experiments on rice to test: (1) whether prolonged storage of primed and non-primed rice seeds for 210 days at 25°C or −4°C would alter their viability, (2) how long primed rice seed would potentially remain viable at 25°C storage, and (3) whether or not post-storage treatments (re-priming or heating) would reinstate the viability of stored primed seeds. Two different rice cultivars and three priming agents were used in all experiments. Prolonged storage of primed seeds at 25°C significantly reduced the germination (>90%) and growth attributes (>80%) of rice compared with un-stored primed seeds. However, such negative effects were not observed in primed seeds stored at −4°C. Beneficial effects of seed priming were maintained only for 15 days of storage at 25°C, beyond which the performance of primed seeds was worse even than non-primed seeds. The deteriorative effects of 25°C storage were related with hampered starch metabolism in primed rice seeds. None of the post-storage treatments could reinstate the lost viability of primed seeds suggesting that seeds become unviable by prolonged post-priming storage at 25°C.

Highlights

Seed priming is a commercially successful practice, but reduced longevity of primed seeds during storage may limit its application
We established a series of experiments on rice to test: (1) whether prolonged storage of primed and non-primed rice seeds for 210 days at 256C or 246C would alter their viability, (2) how long primed rice seed would potentially remain viable at 256C storage, and (3) whether or not post-storage treatments would reinstate the viability of stored primed seeds
Primed rice seeds of both cultivars were more prone to storage conditions (Fig. 1)

Summary

Introduction

Seed priming is a commercially successful practice, but reduced longevity of primed seeds during storage may limit its application. Prolonged storage of primed seeds at 256C significantly reduced the germination (.90%) and growth attributes (.80%) of rice compared with un-stored primed seeds. In rice crop, priming provides a vigorous ‘head start’ that typically exhibit faster and uniform emergence, accomplish better stand establishment, and gives high yields[4] These attributes have practical agronomic implications, notably under stressful environments during germination[5]. Schwember and Bradford reported that longevity of seeds stored in conventional and controlled deterioration (CD) conditions was rarely correlated for both non-primed and primed seeds[19] They suggested that CD tests at elevated temperature and moisture may not be predictive of commercial seed storage conditions, and may lead to over estimation of results[19]. It is imperative to test longevity under more moderate storage conditions and developing methods to predict potential storage life well before the loss of viability is even more important[20]

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