Seed priming:- A TOOL FOR QUALITY SEED PRODUCTION

COMPLETE INFORMATION ABOUT SEED PRIMING HOW IT WORKS ITS PHYSICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL BASIS.

1. 1 MASTER’S SEMINAR “Technological Advances in Seed Priming ” M.Sc . Seed Science and Technology (College of Agriculture , CSKHPKV, Palampur) Speaker : Ramesh Kumar (A-2014-30-74)

2. Introduction Seed plays a crucial role in agriculture since ancient times. It is the starting point, first determinant of the future plant development and the most important factor for successful production. Vigorous and high quality seeds will ensure the advantageous expected after the application of other means of production such as watering or fertilization. Various techniques are available, which have the potential to improve emergence and stand establishment under wide range of field environments. Seed priming is on of the physiological ways which enhances performance of seed and seeds show rapid and synchronised germination . 2

3. cont..… Seed priming is one of the most important developments to help rapid & uniform germination & emergence of seeds and to increase seed tolerance to adverse environmental conditions. (Heydecker et al. 1973, 1975 ) Seed priming is a controlled hydration process followed by re-drying that allows seed to imbibe & begin internal biological processes necessary for germination, but not allow the seed to germinate. ( Kathiresan et al. 1984 ) Priming allows some of the metabolic processes necessary to occur without germination take place, seeds are soaked in different solutions with high osmotic potential this prevents the seed from absorbing enough water for radicle protrusion thus suspending the seeds in lag phase. (Taylor et al. 1998) Seed priming improves the germination rate, speed and uniformity even under less than optimum field conditions thus enabling the establishment of uniform & good crop stand establishment. ( Lee et al. 1998, Kant et al. 2006 ) P rimed crops grew more vigorously, flower earlier & gave higher yield. ( Farooq et al. 2008) 3

4. What is seed priming ? It is a pre-sowing treatment in which seeds are soaked in osmotic solution that allows the seeds to imbibe water and go through the first stages of germination but does not permit radicle protrusion through the seed coat It is based on the principle of controlled Imbibition , to a level that a permits pre germination metabolism to proceed, but prevents actual emergence of radicle . ( Bradford, 1986 ) 4

5. Why seed priming ? I ncreases the seed emergence More uniform crop stand F ast emergence Increase the yield Get the good crop stand in stress conditions Increase the quality of the seed 5

6. Seed priming: History Date Worker/ researcher Contribution 300 BC Theophrastus Cucumber seeds soaked in water prior to sowing would induce faster emergence 1600 Oliver de Serres "clever trick“ of soaking grains (wheat, rye or barley) for two days in manure water followed by drying in the shade before planting the seeds. Soaked seeds emerged more quickly avoiding "the danger of being eaten away by soil pests". 1855 Charles Darwin Possibilities for osmotic seed priming . Darwin submerged seeds in salt water to show that they could move across the sea between landmasses as a means to explain geographic distribution of plant species. The seeds survived in cold salt water for several weeks and showed accelerated germination. 1883 Will Repeated soaking and drying of the seeds results in drought and frost resistance . 6

7. 7 Date Worker/ Researcher Contribution 1964 Henckel Soaking seeds in water for about 48 hrs at 10 o c- 15 o c and drying back to original weight induced drought tolerance in plants. 1971 Malnassy Coined the term " Seed Priming ” 1975 Heydecker Acknowledged the term seed priming which is synonymous with seed invigouration ; introduced the terms halopriming and osmopriming . 1988 Taylor et al . Introduced the term " Solid Matrix Priming " (SMP) 1990 Khan et al . Proposed " Matriconditioning " as alternative for SMP 1990 Callan et al . Coined the word " Biopriming ”

8. Seed priming : Physiological & biochemical basis Seed priming reduces the imbibitional damage associated with planting seeds in cold soils and results in less secondary dormancy (e.g., Lettuce), caused by planting seeds in excessively warm soils. The primed seeds leaks less metabolites , seed endosperm is hydrolysed during priming that permits faster embryo growth and cell wall elasticity is increased . H ydration of the seed during priming permits early DNA replication , increased RNA & protein synthesis and more ATP availability . Increase in seed vigour may also occur following seed priming, as repair of deteriorated parts of seed occurs during the hydration phase of the process . 8

9. Conti…. 1. Stages of water uptake during germination where priming is rel e vant : The pattern of water uptake during priming is similar to that during germination but the rate of uptake is slower and controlled to prevent radicle emergence. 2. Changes in protein profile : Proteomic analysis in Arabidopsis revealed that new proteins are involved either in the imbibition process of the seeds (such as an actin isoform or a WD-40 repeat protein) or in the seed dehydration process (e.g. cytosolic glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase ) which helps to characterize seed vigor of commercial seed lots and to develop and monitor priming treatments. Gallardo et al . (2001) Increased σ-amylase activity and sugar content were reported in the treated seeds compared with the control when rice seeds are primed with KNO 3 . Basra et al . (2005) Some proteins were synthesized only during priming and not during germination e g . the degradation products of certain storage proteins (such as globulins and cruciferin ) are detected only during priming and not when imbibed in water . Anuradha Varier et al. (2010) 9

10. 3 . Enzyme activation in relation to priming: I ncreases in activities of σ-amylase in rice (Basra et al. 2005, Farooq et al. 2006b), acid phosphatase and esterase in lettuce (Khan et al . 1978), and antioxidant enzymes in Lucerne (Zhang et al . 2007 ). A rapid resumption of DNA synthesis and initiation of cell division in wheat soon after hydration . ( Dell'Aquila and Taranto,1986 ) R epair of DNA and other cellular components ( e.g. membranes ), which may be damaged during seed maturation , dehydration and storage DNA repair may be a major contributing factor to the improvement in germination after osmopriming . ( Burgass and Powell, 1984 ) Primed seeds had less lipid peroxidation and higher superoxide dismutase (SOD) & catalase (CAT ) activities than non-primed rice seeds. Enzyme activities of catalase, peroxidase, amylase and invertase increased in PEG treated seeds. (Singh et al. 1985) 10

11. Fig :2 Physiological basis of seed priming. (Agarwal, 2002) 11

12. Priming - molecular basis: Research Authors Unchanged DNA content of tomato Coolbear and Grierson (1979) Increase in DNA synthesis and DNA repair (Bray et al.,1989 (Leek); Dell'Aquila and Taranto, 1986 (wheat) ; Coolbear et al., 1990 and Yongging et al., 1996 (tomato cv. Moneymaker); Lanteri et al., 1994 (pepper); Asraf and Bray, 1993 (Leek); Gurusinghe et al., 1999 (tomato)) and (Fu et al., 1988). Improvement in germination by priming might be due to enhanced repair of membrane, which was disrupted during maturation drying. This was indirectly supported by the reduced leakage of electrolytes from primed seeds, since electrolyte leakage is in part a result of damage cell membranes. Chiu et al. (1995) 12

13. Conti… Priming also has been shown to induce nuclear DNA synthesis in the radicle tip cells in tomato (Liu et al., 1997) and several other plant species, including maize ( Zea mays L .). ( Garcia et al.1995) W ild oat seeds, primed with 30% PEG for 24h resulted in increase in the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD ) and a rapid increased in the respiration intensity, which were associated with increase in germination and vigor . ( Jie et al., 2002 ) Osmopriming may also contribute to rapid speed germination by reducing the mechanical restraint of endosperm on developing embryo. ( Mayer and Mayber , 1989 ) Osmopriming of tomato seed increased the endo-beta mannanase activity in the endosperm cap and decreased its mechanical restraint on the germination embryo . ( Toorop et al.1998 ) 13

14. Pattern of water uptake and metabolic events during seed priming : 14

15. Methods of seed priming 15

16. Osmopriming Osmotic seed priming i s a pre-sowing treatment in which seeds are soaked in osmotic solution that allows seeds to imbibe water to proceed to the first stage of germination but prevent radicle protrusion through the seed coat . Heydecker et al. (1973) Osmotic priming of seeds also known as osmopriming or osmoconditioning describes incubation of seeds with aerated solutions of low water potential which are rinsed off afterwards. e.g. polyethylene glycol (PEG), glycerol, sorbitol, or mannitol are used as osmoticants to creates low water potential solutions. Osmopriming essentially exposes seeds to a low water potential to restrict the rate and extent of imbibition. Osmopriming is akin to a prolonged early imbibition of seeds that sets in motion a gradual progression of various pre- germinative metabolic activities . 16

17. Effects of Osmopriming : 1. Wild rye ( Leymus chinensis L.) seed priming with 30% PEG for 24 h resulted in increase in the cell activity of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase & a rapid increase in the respiratory intensity which were associated with an increase in germination & vigour . Jie et al. (2002) 2. Chickpea seed primed with water, 2 & 4 % mannitol increased the length and biomass of roots and shoots of seedlings as compared to non-primed control under salt stress conditions. Kaur et al. (2002, 2005) 3. M uskmelon ( Cucumis melo L.) seed osmo -conditioned with PEG-6000 showed enhanced activity of dehydrogenase & amylase & improved germination under non-saline conditions. Singh et al. (1999) 17

18. Halopriming Halopriming refers to soaking of seeds in solution of inorganic salts i.e. NaCl , KNO 3 , KCl, KH 2 PO 4 ,CaCl 2 , CaSO 4 etc. Germination and vigor of less vigorous cabbage seed enhanced when primed with KNO 3 2 % and KH 2 PO 4 2 %. ( Batool et al ., 2014) 18 Germination

19. Effect of Halo-priming: 1. Seeds of muskmelon soaked with KNO 3 solution showed enhanced activity of dehydrogenase and alpha amylase under low temperature. Singh et al. 1999 2. Rice seeds treated with KCl (1%) recorded significantly higher plant height, seed yield and 100 seed weight over control. Jayaraj and Sasikala , 2004 3. Soaking of maize seeds in KH 2 PO 4 solution significantly increased the germination, speed of emergence, mean daily germination, shoot length, root length, seedling vigour index and seedling dry weight over untreated control. Ramalal et al. 1993 19

20. Hydro-priming Hydropriming involves soaking of seeds in water before sowing and may or may not be followed by air drying of the seeds. Seeds are immersed in sterilised distilled water kept at appropriate temperature and the duration of hydro-priming is determined by controlling seed imbibition during germination . (Kaya et al. 2006) 20

21. Physiology involved in seed hydration ( Bewley , 1997) 21

22. Effect of Hydro-priming: 1. Enhancement of physiological and biochemical events taking place in seeds even when the germination is suspended by low osmotic potential and negligible matric potential of the imbibing medium . Basra et al.2003 2. A simple, economical and a safe technique for increasing the capacity of seeds towards osmotic adjustment, enhancing seedling establishment and crop production under stressed conditions. Kaur et al. 2002 3. Increased activity of á-amylase which in turn has resulted in better mobilization of stored carbohydrate reserves resulted in improvement of germination and other related parameters. Kata et al. 2014 4. Soaking of wheat kernels in water improved their germination rate under saline conditions. Roy and Srivastava. 1999 22

23. Solid matrix priming In solid matrix priming or matric conditioning , solid or semi solid medium is used as an alternative to liquid medium . (Copeland and McDonald 1995) Technique is accomplished by mixing seeds with a sloid or semisolid material and specified amount of water. Water is slowly provided to the seeds & thus slow or controlled hydration occurs allowing the repair mechanism to operate . Commonly used solid matrics includes Cocopeat , Perlite, Vermiculite, moss, Saw dust, Sand exfoliated vermiculite, expanded calcined clay etc. 23

24. Effects of Solid matrix priming: 1. Solid matrix priming with animal compost (SMP) for 12 and 24 hrs was the most effective treatment in improving overall germination percentage and seedling emergence of rapeseed. Bijanzadeh et al. 2010 2. Solid matix priming was effective in invigorating seeds of soybean through improvement in seed germination percentage. Mercado and Fernandez.2002 3. Solid matrix priming in combination with Trichoderma viride can be successfully used to improve seedling emergence and productivity of okra under low temperatures. Pandita et al. 2010 24

25. Biopriming Bio-priming is a process of biological seed treatment that refers to combination of seed hydration (physiological aspect of disease control) and inoculation (biological aspect of disease control ) of seed with beneficial organism to protect seed . It is an ecological approach using either bacteria or selected fungal antagonists against the soil and seed-borne pathogens. Applying beneficial microorganism to the seed during priming may further improve establishment of the crop, particularly if seed-applied microorganism subsequently become established in the root zone of the plant and contribute to the long term plant health or plant growth promotion. ( Bennett and Whipps . 2008 ) 25 Biopriming of Maize seed

26. Benefits of bio-priming in crops using biocontrol agents: Crop Biocontrol agents Disease control Reference Sunflower Osmopriming with NaCl & Biopriming with Pseudomonas Fluorescen , Pseudomonas fluorescens (0.8%) in jelly Improved germination parameters Alternaria blight Moeinzadeh et al. (2010) Rao et al. (2009) Maize Trichoderma harzianum Fusarium verticillioides and fumonisi Chandra Nayaka et al. (2010) Carrot Antagonist, Clonostachys rosea Alternaria dauci & A. radicina Jensen et al. (2004) Pearl millet Pseudomonas fluorescens Downy mildew Raj Niranjan et al. (2004) 26

27. Effects of Bio-priming 1. Wheat seed bio-priming with different salinity-tolerant isolates of Trichoderma were effective in improving germination percentage and reducing reduction percentage of germination during salinity stress. Rawat et al. 2011 2. Application of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) improves the percentage of seed germination under saline conditions and also increased the shoot length, root length and dry matter in chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.). Mishra et al. 2010 3. Trichoderma viride improved the plant length, maximum number of pod and pod diameter in okra and concluded that the bio-priming will enhance the plant growth and yield attributes. Rai and Basu , 2014 27

28. Drum priming This is misting of seed with water and re-drying before they complete germination. Seeds are rotated in a drum with specific amount of water introduced as a fine mist. As the seeds absorb water, a sensitive scale monitors increase in seed weight until the desired wet weight is achieved. 28

29. Hormonal priming Hormonal priming is the pre seed treatment with different hormones i.e. salicylic acid, ascorbate, kinetin, etc. which promote the growth and development of the seedlings. The seeds were soaked in aerated solution of hormones like GA, kinetin , ABA, proline and salicylic acid (SA @ 10 & 20 ppm) 29

30. Effects of Hormonal priming: 1. Seed performance of various crops can be improved by inclusion of plant growth regulators and hormones during priming and other pre-sowing treatments. Lee et al. 1998 2. Abscisic acid (ABA) is a phyto -hormone extensively involved in response to abiotic stresses such as drought, low temperature and osmotic stress. Fujita et al. 2006 3. Sorghum seed primed with gibberellic acid, salicylic acid and ascorbic acid increased germination characteristics of seed aged. Antioxidant activity of aged seeds increased after seed priming. Azadi et al. 2013 30

31. Magneto seed priming: Magneto seed priming involves exposure of seed to a magnetic field. 31

32. Effects of Magneto seed priming: 1. SMF dose of 100 mT for 30 min gave maximum increase in germination characteristics.SMF primed seeds were then exposed to pulsed magnetic field (PMF) dose in the cycles of 2, 3, 5 or 6 min on and off where PMF dose of 3 min on and off cycle showed substantial enhancement of 23 % in seedling vigour compared to other treatments. Gupta et al., 2015 2. Magneto-priming of cucumber seed at 200 mT magnetic field for 1 hour improved germination parameters, water uptake, transverse relaxation time , activities of hydrolytic enzymes, amylase and protease and activities of antioxidant enzymes, superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione reductase. Bhardwaj et al., 2012 32

33. Nano seed priming It is the process of seed priming in which seeds are primed with the nano particles like Sio 2 , Tio 2 and silver nano particles are used. Nano-particles target specific cellular organelles in seeds to release their content. Nano-particles enhance water uptake in seeds and activate enzymatic and hormonal responses during seed germination and plant growth. 33

34. Effects of Nano priming : 1. Sorghum seeds primed with Nanoparticles of iron at two levels doses of priming at five levels (normal, bulk, 0.01%, 0.02%, 0.03%), pre- treatment temperature at two levels (10 C and 15 C) and had significant effect on some of the features in seedlings such as some of enzymes, unstructured carbohydrates and types of the chlorophylls. Moaveni , 2014 2. AgNPs primed wheat and barley seeds show significant increase in the germination percentage, compared with those percentages of control, results showed that use of nanoparticles increased extent of seedling vigor index in plants compared to the control. AgNPs influenced growth parameters as well as photosynthetic pigments and chlorophyll fluorescence. ( Abou-Zeid and Moustafa , 2014) 34

35. List of crops, priming techniques used and their effects: crop Chemical used for seed priming and concentration Effects on crop Authors Paddy KNO 3 , KCl, CaCl 2 PEG,KNO 3 , KCL,KH 2 PO 4 , NaCl & Mannitol Increased seed quality parameters and resultant seed quality Increase the yield emergence, seedling fresh weight and dry weight Geetha (1992) & Nagaraj (1996) Farooq et al., (2005) Wheat PEG 8000 and KN03 Germination parameters Salehzade et al, 2009 Barley Water soaking for 12-16 h priming was also more advantageous on saline-sodic than on saline soils Rashid et al., 2006 Maize Urea, PEG, GA 3 - 100ppm,CaCl 2 -50mM Increased seed quality parameters Increased emergence, seedling fresh weight and dry weight Pegah et al., (2008) Afzal et al., (2008) Sorghum KH 2 PO 4 2% DAP 2%, micronutrient mixture increased seed quality parameters Salvaraju , (1992) 35

36. crop Chemical used for seed priming and concentration Effects on crop Authors Soybean NaCl 0.5% , KNO 3 1%, DAP 0.025% Increased growth and yield attributes Sathiyamoorthy and Vivekanandan Cotton Ca(OH) 2 (2/4%), KCl (1%) Increased seed quality parameters, field emergence and vigour of seeds Senthikumar (1993) Tomato Sodium phosphate (dibasic) Increased the seed quality parameters and controlled the microbial activity and extending the shelf life of seeds Sree Rama Murthy, (1984) Bhendi Ca O Cl 2 2% Increased seed quality parameters Sambandhamani , (1988) Onion Hydropriming , Solid matrix priming, Osmopriming - 0.25 MPa PEG , Halopriming 3% KNO 3 and NaCl Increased seed germination bility vigour and storability Selvarani (2005) 36

37. 37 ( Anuradha Varier et al., 2010 )

38. Advantages of seed priming Early field emergence and good field stand. Increase the seed vigour of low vigorous seeds. Increase the germination percentage. Helps in uniform field stand in stress conditions. Improves the shelf life of seeds Increase the yield . Imbibition injury prevented Salt priming supply seeds with nitrogen and other nutrients for protein synthesis 38

39. Disadvantages of priming Priming Requires specific temperature and time, if it is not followed then seed can be deteriorate due to embryo protrusion. Osmotic seed treatment is expensive. There should be continuous aeration to seed in the solution, otherwise the seed will suffer from the ill effects of anaerobic aeration. As the treatment is done over a long period, proper caution against microbial attack should be taken . 39

40. Case Studies 40

41. Treatment Germination ( %) Dry matter production ( Mg seedligs -10 ) V igour index Control 58.05 11.28 807 Water 58.69 11.41 833 KH 2 PO 4 (1%) 64.89 12.40 1017 KNO 3 (2%) 67.21 12.67 1078 C.D (P=0.5) 3.087 0.114 38 Effect of seed priming on seed quality enhancement in Brinjal. ( Ponnuswamy and Vijayalakshmi , 2011, Coimbatore) 41

42. Influence of seed priming treatments on Mean days to germination, seedling length, seedling fresh weight and seed vigour index in wheat: Priming media Germination percentage (%) Days to germination Seedling length (mm) Seedling fresh weight (mg) Seedling vigour index 12h 24h 12h 24h 12h 24h 12h 24h 12h 24h (T1) control 85 85 5.23 5.23 121 121 78 78 10328 10328 T(2) Hydro-priming 85 80 1.31 1.12 168 229 120 148 14280 18320 T(3)COCl 2 10 μ gml- 1 85 95 1.33 1.26 184 231 138 162 15660 21945 (T4) COCl 2 15 μgml -1 85 95 2.06 1.83 154 238 147 172 13090 22610 (T5) KNO 3 1.0% 85 95 1.18 1.10 192 233 148 140 16330 22135 T6) KNO 3 2.0% 85 95 1.18 1.10 178 240 166 168 14240 22800 (T7) CaCl 2 0.5% 85 95 2.25 1.94 97 214 100 134 8245 18190 (T8) CaCl 2 1.0% 80 80 2.18 1.56 180 192 136 136 14432 15360 CD at 5% NS NS 2.09 0.18 6.75 4.09 4.36 4.36 174.3 198.8 Sarlach et al. 2013 42

43. Effect of seed priming on yield parameters and grain yield of wheat . Priming media Plant height(cm) 12h 24h Spike length (cm) 12h 24h 1000 grain weight (g) 12h 24h Grain yield (q/ha) 12h 24h Harvest index (%) 12h 24h (T1) control 82.7 88.4 9.7 9.4 29.66 28.41 32.88 35.49 31.41 28.75 T(2)Hydro-priming 87.6 87.3 9.2 8.7 26.15 28.75 32.48 29.9 29.26 31.21 T(3)COCl 2 10 μ gml-1 priming 84.8 87.7 9.2 9.0 23.35 28.16 34.65 33.6 25.31 30.89 (T4) COCl 2 15 μgml-1 priming 80.7 85.5 8.8 8.8 29.95 29.14 39.45 39.3 37.45 31.53 ( T5)KNO 3 1.0% 82 85.5 10.5 9.5 27.19 29.5 32.29 39.8 30.17 31.38 ( T6) KNO 3 2.0% 84.3 89.4 9.1 8.8 25.38 28.92 38.96 33.8 32.20 29.02 (T7) CaCl 2 0.5% 84.5 82.5 9.3 9.1 25.51 26.33 31.33 28 29.80 25.92 (T8) CaCl 2 1.0% 84.5 79.7 8.2 9.1 30.14 27.89 34.62 31.7 27.1 26.43 CD at 5% NS NS 1.07 NS NS NS 4.70 5.26 4.97 2.69 Sarlach et al . 2013 43

44. Effect of seed priming with chemicals and PGRs on germination percentage, yield and yield contributing traits of wheat varieties under sodic soil: Treatment Germination percentage Plant height (cm) Number of tiller per plant No. of grains per ear Grain yield/ plant Control 68.75 82.89 6.45 33.97 7.84 Hydropriming 73.08 85.38 6.74 37.28 8.44 KNO 3 3% 80.92 93.70 7.92 44.78 9.51 KCl 1% 77.75 90.65 7.33 41.50 9.34 GA 3 150ppm 76.25 89.48 7.33 39.36 8.93 Cycocel 500ppm 74.50 81.17 7.12 38.17 8.72 CD at 5% 2.55 3.80 0.88 2.08 0.61 Kalpana et al . 2013 44

45. Chemical priming for improved seed yield and quality in black gram var CO5 . Treatments Field emergence (%) Plant height (cm) Seed yield (kg/ha) 100 seed weight (g) Germination percentage (%) Vigour index Water 81 42.1 719 4.321 90 3069 KCl 1% 89 50.0 847 4.982 92 4545 KH 2 PO 4 1% 89 44.6 738 4.880 90 3942 CaCl 2 1% 85 44.4 746 4.660 91 4050 KNO 3 0.5% 83 48.7 724 4.412 90 3627 Control 76 39.4 699 4.410 85 3196 CD 0.05% 2.12 1.18 9.7 0.27 3.11 29.7 Srimathi and Sujata. 2006 45

46. Future thrust Developing a complete priming protocol must address the balance between germination advancement and reduced seed longevity. Attempt to attain the most rapid germination from priming must be weighed against the enhanced liability of this pre-sowing treatment. The challenges of technology to enhance seed performance provides an opportunity for more in-depth studies on physiological and biochemical changes that occur during seed treatments. Physiological, biochemical and biophysical markers are needed to detect the enhanced quality of seeds. Identification of diagnostic markers which might be employed to interrogate gene expression to characterize seed quality and to develop and optimize priming enhancement procedures. 46

47. Conti… Advanced technologies like nano -priming may further be improved using bio-nanoparticles which may be beneficial to the seed because the nanoparticles penetrate deep in the tissue of seeds. Efforts will have to be made to determine the right time and right quantity of priming (time and solute infusion ). Packing techniques have to be developed to store primed seed. Such techniques will revolutionize farming in moisture starved areas where farmers are poor technologically and traditionally . More research has to be done in the area of using botanicals and use of microbial consortia for biopriming . 47

48. conclusion Seed priming can enhance the quality of seed by influencing the fast germination and uniform field stand that result in the increase in the yield . Seed priming with hormones cause the stress tolerance in the plant and stimulate the germination in the stress and drought conditions . Magneto-priming of seed doesn't require the hydration of seed that is beneficial for seed because seed longevity is not affected . Priming with nanomaterials enhance water uptake in seeds and activate enzymatic activity in the seed that result in faster emergence . Seed priming has emerged as a promising strategy in modern stress management because it protects plants against various abiotic stresses without effecting fitness. 48

49. “ Good seed doesn’t costs, it always pays” Thank you 49