SEED PRIMING IMPROVES THE GERMINATION AND EARLY GROWTH OF TURNIP SEEDLINGS UNDER SALINITY STRESS2

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to enhance the turnip seed performance under salinity stress conditions. The impact of priming with an optimized dosage (5 g/l) of KCl and NaCl had been evaluated for enhancing seedling vigor and salt stress tolerance in seedlings of the turnip. Seeds prepared with (5 g/l) of KCl and NaCl solutions were examined at different salinity levels (0, 50, 100, 150, 200)mM of NaCl concerning the early growth stage. The data were analyzed using SPSS windows version 23 (one way ANOVA p ≤ 0.05) to determine the significant difference between treatments and followed Duncan test, p 0.05 for means comparison. The results have shown that priming with KCl and NaCl were effective in reducing the adverse effects of salinity. A significant (P 0.05) increase in germination percentage, seed vigor, hypocotyl and radicle length, salt tolerance, and dry weight of the seedlings of seed that priming with (5 g/l) of KCl and NaCl compared to nonprimed seeds was recorded. On the other hand, In this experiment, it was concluded that seed priming with KCl and NaCl had been discovered to be better treatment, especially in the high concentration of salts as compared to non-primed seeds in case of turnip for rising the seeds vigor and seedling growth under salt-stressed conditions.