Abstract
The use of pre-sowing organic hydration-dehydration techniques to improve quality and performance of organic seeds has already been lacking in the literature as well as in the organic farming regulations of different countries. Hence, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of organic hydration (hydropriming and organic priming) and dehydration treatments on germination and early seedling growth in organic tomato seeds. Following each priming treatment, the seeds were surface dried and divided into two sub-groups. First part of the seeds was taken to the germination tests immediately while the second part was dried back until the original seed moisture content was reached before the germination tests were set up. Then, responses of organic tomato seeds to organic hydration and dehydration treatments were observed on the bases of viability (normal germination rate) and different vigour parameters such as mean germination time, germination index, seedling dry weight and seedling vigour index. When the overall data were assessed, the best results were obtained from the hydropriming and organic priming with 250 ppm seaweed extract solution followed by both dehydration treatments in organic tomato seeds. Consequently, these results suggested that hydropriming and organic priming could be used both in seed and seedling industries to improve organic seed quality and performance. Furthermore, the results indicated that the addition of these organic hydration-dehydration protocols to the current procedures of the regulations of organic tomato production could be a useful strategy.Key words:Â Lycopersicon esculentum, Ascophyllum nodosum, hydropriming, organic priming, seed viability, seed vigour
Highlights
In seed technology, different pre-sowing treatments have been utilised to obtain fast and uniform germination or emergence
The changes occurred in seed moisture content following priming and dehydration treatments in organic seeds of tomato cv
While the moisture content of control seeds was 7.4%, the final seed moisture content rose to 44.5% following HP+surface dried (SD) and varied between 39.5 and 43.4% following different organic priming (OP)+SD treatments
Summary
Different pre-sowing treatments have been utilised to obtain fast and uniform germination or emergence. One of the most important pre-sowing treatments is known as seed priming This advancement technique is based on seed imbibition allowing the seeds to go through the first reversible stage of germination but do not allow radical protrusion through the seed coat. Various seed priming techniques have been developed in order to invigorate seeds and alleviate the environmental stresses These can be listed as follows (Ashraf and Foolad, 2005; Lutts et al, 2016): hydropriming (priming seeds in water), halopriming (priming seeds in inorganic salt solutions), osmopriming (priming seeds in osmotic solutions such as PEG), hormopriming (priming seeds in plant growth regulator solutions), thermopriming (priming seeds at low or high temperatures), solid matrix priming (priming seeds with solid matrices), and biopriming (priming seeds by the use of biological compounds). Physical and chemical factors such as osmotic and water potential, priming agent, duration, temperature, presence or absence of light, aeration, and seed condition influence priming success and determine germination rate and time, seedling vigour, and further plant development (Hussain et al, 2006; Varier et al, 2010)
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