BACKGROUND AND AIMS Seed quality may be compromised if seeds are harvested before natural dispersal (shedding). It has been shown previously that slow or delayed drying can increase potential quality compared with immediate rapid drying. This study set out to investigate whether or not there is a critical moisture content, below which drying terminates maturation events for seeds harvested afte...

the effects of priming treatment using five osmotic solutions (peg, manitol, kno3, kh2po4 and combination of two salts) in six osmotic potentials (-1 to -1.5 mpa) was studied on germination percentage, rate and uniformity of melon seeds. the best results were obtained with high concentrations of kno3 and lower concentrations of manitol. mean germination time of melon seeds in 19°c was preceeded...

• Priming of defence is a strategy employed by plants exposed to stress to enhance resistance against future stress episodes with minimal associated costs on growth. Here, we test the hypothesis that application of priming agents to seeds can result in plants with primed defences. • We measured resistance to arthropod herbivores and disease in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants grown from see...

A series of seed priming experiments were conducted to test the effects of different pretreatment methods to seed germination, seedling growth, and seed yield traits in maize (Zea mays L.). Results indicated that the seeds primed by gibberellins (GA), NaCl, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) reagents showed a higher imbibitions rate compared to those primed with water. The final germination percenta...

background and objectives: seedy watermelon (citrullus lanatus) is a crop that is planted in as a second crop after winter crops some parts of country. this crop is more attended by farmers due to the short time between planting and maturity, low production costs and greater profitability rather than other spring crops. in order to evaluate the interaction effects between weeds and seed priming...

The positive effect of melatonin on the function of the photosynthetic apparatus is known, but little is known about the specific mechanisms of melatonin's action in plants. The influence of melatonin on chlorophyll metabolism of 24-day-old Pisum sativum L. seedlings during paraquat (PQ)-induced oxidative stress was investigated in this study. Seeds were hydro-primed with water (H), 50 and 200 ...