The Influence of NaCl Priming on Seed Germination and Seedling Growth of Canola (Brassica napus L.) Under Salinity Conditions

A laboratorial study was carried out to investigate the effect of NaCl priming on seed germination and seedling growth of canola. Canola seeds were primed with 1% NaCl solution for 24 hours, at 20°C. Then primed and non-primed seeds were irrigated with seven different saline solutions consisted of 0 (control), 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00, 1.25 and 1.50% concentrations of NaCl. Results indicated that NaCl priming increased germination percentage, germination rate and seedling dry weight 25.57, 34.67 and 36.67 %, respectively, as compared with non-primed seeds. Overall increased NaCl level, led to the reductions in the traits under study but these reductions were higher for non-primed compared to primed seeds. At the 1.25% level of salinity, the reductions for germination percentage, germination rate and seedling dry weight were 36.30, 39.52 and 50% for primed and 69.47, 89.92 and 87.5% for non-primed seeds respectively, as compared with control. However, at 1.50% level of salinity non-primed seeds failed to germinate, while, germination percentage was 45% for primed seeds. The present study revealed that under salinity condition, seed priming with NaCl could be used as a method for improving seed performance in canola. However, further studies are needed to investigate the effects of NaCl priming on later growth and development stages of this crop.