Seed Priming

“Seed priming is a controlled hydration technique in which seeds are soaked in water or low osmotic potential solution to a point where germination related metabolic activities begin in the seeds but radical emergence does not occur.”

1. SEED PRIMING
Malik Ghulam Asghar
AG-A-13-71
Presented to
Sir Dr. Nazim Hussain
Sir Hamid Nawaz
Department of Agronomy
Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan Pakistan

2. Introduction
Everyseedshouldbehealthyandreadily
germinatetoproduceavigorousseedlingto
ensurebettercropyield.
Seedscanretaintheirhighvigorforsometime
andthereafterbegintodeterioratelosingtheir
germinationcapacity,vigorandviability.
(Ellis and Filho, 1992; McDonald, 1999)
Lowvigorseedsgerminateandemergepoorly
andresultinsmallerplantsascomparedtohigh
vigorseeds.
(Ellis and Roberts, 1981)

3. Seed Enhancements
“Seedenhancementsarethepregermination
treatmentsthatimprovethegerminationrate,
timeandseedlinggrowthorfacilitatethe
deliveryofseedsandothermaterialrequiredat
thetimeofsowing.”
Thepurposeofseedtreatmentsistoshorten
thetimebetweenplantingandemergence.
(Black and Peter, 2006)

4. SEED PRIMING
“Seedprimingisacontrolledhydrationtechnique
inwhichseedsaresoakedinwaterorlow
osmoticpotentialsolutiontoapointwhere
germinationrelatedmetabolicactivitiesbeginin
theseedsbutradicalemergencedoesnotoccur.”
(Heydeckerand Coolbear, 1977; Bradford, 1986;
McDonald, 2000; Farooq et al., 2007)

5. Seed Priming Process
Primingallowssomeofthemetabolicprocessesnecessaryforgerminationto
occurwithoutgerminationtakeplace.
Thispreventstheseedsfromabsorbinginenoughwaterforradicleprotrusion,
thussuspendingtheseedsinthelagphase.
(Taylor et al., 1998)
Thishydrationissufficienttopermitpre-germinativemetaboliceventsbut
insufficienttoallowradicleprotrusionthroughtheseedcoat.
(Heydeckeret al., 1975)
Controlled
Imbibition
Enzymes
Activation
Dehydration
Imbibition
in Field
Radicle
Emergence

6. Seed Priming Process

7. Effect of Seed Priming on Germination

8. Advantages of Seed Priming
Itdecreasesthetimetogermination
Increasetherateofgermination
emergesfromthesoilmostfasteranduniformly
Cropscancompetemoreeffectivelywithweeds
eliminateorgreatlyreducetheamountofseed-
bornefungi
(Basra et al., 2002, Farooq et al., 2004)
improvesseedperformancestressconditions.
(Ashraf and Foolad, 2005)

9. Germination of Primed Seeds
IRREGULARITIES IN SEED GERMINATION
POOR QUALITY SEEDS
UNIFORMITY IN THE GERMINATION OF
PRIMED SEEDS

10. Seed priming tests in lab
Seed weighing PEG conc. Mixing Seeds and PEG
Washing
Re-driedWeight (Original weight)Germination test

11. Seed Priming Methods
There are four common methods utilized for priming seeds:
1)hydro-priming
2)osmotic priming
3)solid matrix priming
4)Bio Priming Priming
Hydro
Solid
Bio
Osmotic

12. 1) Hydro-priming
Hydro-primingalsoinvolvessoakinginwaterand
dryingbacktostoragemoisturepriortosowingof
theseeds.
(Harris et al., 1991)
Thisdecreasesthetimethattheseedspendsin
theseedbedsimplyimbibingwater.
(Halmer, 2006)

13. Effect of Hydro-priming on Wheat Seed
Hydro-primingofWheatseedimproves:
1)Vigor
2)Germinationpercentage
3)SeedlingsEstablishments
4)UniformGrowth
5)Water use efficiency
6)Grain yield
(Raj Pal Meena, Sendhil R, S. C. Tripathi,
2013)

14. 2) Osmotic priming
Osmoticprimingisthesoakingofseedsin
solutionscontainingchemicalssuchas:
1)mannitol
2)potassiumnitrate(KNO
3)
3)potassiumchloride(KCl)
4)polyethyleneglycol(PEG)
5)sodiumchloride(NaCl)
(Halmer, 2006)

15. 3) Solid matrix priming
Solidmatrixpriminginvolvestheincubationofseedsinasolid,insolublematrix,
suchasvermiculite,diatomaceousearth,oranotherhighlywaterabsorbent
polymer,withalimitedamountofwater,allowingforslowimbibition.
(McDonald, 2000)

16. 4) Bio-Priming
Bio-primingisaprocessofbiologicalseedtreatmentthatreferscombinationof
seedhydration(physiologicalaspectofdiseasecontrol)andinoculation
(biologicalaspectofdiseasecontrol)ofseedwithbeneficialorganismtoprotect
seed
Hydration
of Seeds
Bio agents
Biopriming
of seeds

17. Effect of Bio-priming on Rice Seed
Itisanecological
approachusingselected
fungalantagonistsagainst
thesoilandseed-borne
pathogens.
(Halmer, 2006)

18. Drying Seeds after Priming Process
Seeddehydratorisusedforseeddryingafter
primingProcess.
Slowdryingatmoderatetempsisgenerally
preferable.
Heat-shockisalsoused.
(Halmer, 2006)

19. THANK YOU
Any Question ?