effects of on-farm seed priming and sowing date on seedling emergence, biological yield and some physiological indices of corn (s.c.260) in hamedan

to evaluate the effects of on-farm seed priming treatments and sowing dates on rate and percentage of seedling emergence, biological yield and some physiological indices of corn hybrid (sc. 260) an experiment was conducted in hamedan, iran in 2010. a split plot in a randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted. main plots include three sowing dates (early, on-time and late seeding time) and subplots were representative of four on-farm seed priming treatments (priming with tap water, urea, and zinc solutions and non-priming). results showed that priming with zinc and urea solutions in the first date increased emergence rate. percentage of emergence was increased by zinc solution and tap water at the first sowing date, while in the second sowing date using urea and zinc solutions increased percentage of emergence. however, in the third sowing date only urea solution was effective. the highest of maximum crop growth rate was achieved in the first and third sowing dates with tap water and zinc solution. all priming treatments were higher in maximum leaf area index than the non-primed treatment. in the first sowing date, all priming treatments exhibited higher biological yield especially in tap water and urea solution. finally, the spad numbers in all priming treatments in the first and third sowing dates were higher than non-primed treatment. generally, it was concluded that in hamadan, seed priming especially with tap water and urea solution could help early seeding of corn plant and to avoid early chilling damage in autumn