Seed hydro-priming application to alleviation of water stress during germination in sunflower hybrids (Helianthus annuus L.)

ABSTRACT: In order to study the effect of seed priming on two sunflower hybrids germination indices at water stress condition, an experiment was conducted at seed and plant certification and registration institute as factorial on based of completely randomized design at three replications in 2011-2012. The treatments were 4 levels of hydro-priming consisting control, the hydro-priming for 6, 12 and 18 hours, two sunflower hybrids of Azargol and Hysun-36 and the osmotic potential levels of 0, -0.3, -0.6 and -0.9 MPa induced by PEG-6000. The results showed that hydro-priming for 6 hours caused significant improvement of germination indices at water stress condition in comparison with other priming treatments and itʹs suggested to use this treatment at water stress. Also the hydro-priming for 18 hours didnʹt show a significant difference compared to the control, and it seems that the increase of hydro-priming duration has detrimental effects on germination indices.