Abstract
Good crop establishment is essential for achieving high yield and constraints to good establishment include untimely sowing and low seed quality combined with various adverse growing conditions after sowing. Seed priming is a pre-sowing technique used for the improvement of germination, reduction of the time from sowing to emergence and improvement of emergence uniformity. Various seed priming techniques, such as hydropriming and priming with zinc, are used nowadays to improve crop establishment. The importance of seed priming with zinc for better germination, improved stand establishment, and higher maize yield are well documented. However, there is still a lack of results on the effects of seed priming with water and zinc on seed quality and viability, given that maize seed can be kept in storage for many years without a significant reduction in germination. The study was aimed to evaluate the effects of seed priming with water and Zn on the quality and viability of the maize seed. In order to evaluate the response of four maize hybrids to priming with water (hydropriming) and 4 mM zinc sulphate, primed seeds were subjected to laboratory tests, namely to the germination test, the cold test, and the accelerated aging test. Both priming treatments increased the seed quality, but the beneficial effect of Zn-priming maintained to a larger extent than hydropriming in cold-treated and aged seeds. The negative effects of hydropriming on the viability o f the aged seed of hybrid NS 4023 imply a possible limitation to deferred sowing of primed maize seed.
Highlights
The period from sowing to crop establishment is crucial for plant growth, due to its direct impact on yield and quality
There is still a lack o f results on the effects o f seed priming with water and zinc on seed quality and viability, given that maize seed can be kept in storage for many years without a significant reduction in germination
For four tested maize hybrids, Zn concentration in seeds primed with ZnSO4 was 298.1 mg kg-1, 361.0 mg kg-1, 333.5 mg kg-1, and 257.6 mg kg-1 and it was significantly increased in comparison to untreated seeds
Summary
The period from sowing to crop establishment is crucial for plant growth, due to its direct impact on yield and quality. Seed priming is a pre-sowing technique used for the improvement of germination, reduction of the time from sowing to emergence and improvement of emergence uniformity (Girolamo & Barbanti, 2012). The purpose of seed priming is partial hydration of the seeds to a point when pre-germination metabolic processes are initiated but not completed (Mabhaudhi & Modi, 2011).
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