Seed priming with NaCl improves germination in maize under saline soil conditions

Abstract

Soil salinity is considered crucial for seed germination, seedling growth, and crop production in arid and semi-arid regions. Seed priming can be an effective solution to improve maize germination and growth, under salinity stress. An experiment was conducted to study the effect of seed priming with NaCl and salinity stress on germination and growth of maize variety Arun-2. Before sowing, eighty maize seeds were soaked in 5g/L aqueous NaCl solution for 12 hours at 27-degree Celsius. Primed and unprimed seeds were sown in 10-liter capacity plastic pots and watered with 200mL of 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 g/L saline solutions at two days intervals. Germination percentage, shoot length, and number of leaves per plant were measured to access the germination and growth parameters. The results showed that priming seeds with NaCl solution significantly (P<0.05) improved the germination of maize seeds. Whereas, germination of Arun-2 was not significantly affected by salinity stress. Salinity has negative impacts on shoot length and number of leaves. The shoot length at 38 DAS was found to be the longest at salinity level 0 mg/L (8.61cm) and it was found to be shortest at highest salinity level i.e. 8 mg/L (3.12 cm). Increasing salt stress has severe effects on the growth of maize, both during the seedling and vegetative growth stages of the plant. Seed priming alleviated the inhibitory effect of salt stress on germination and seedling growth of maize. Thus, seed priming with 5 g/L NaCl solution could be useful to improve the germination and growth of maize under saline stress conditions.