Effect of priming methods on emergence and seedling growth of maize (Zea mayze L.)

Germination and early growth under prevailing environmental conditions improves by seed priming technique. However, the information on seed priming in maize is lacking in Iran. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the effects of different seed priming techniques, un-soaked seed (control), Hydro-priming (soaked with distill water), Halopriming with KNO3 and CaCl2 (1% solution), on seed emergence and seedling growth of three maize varieties (SC-301, SC-604 and SC-711). Experiment was conducted in wire house under natural climatic conditions during 2012. All the priming treatments significantly affected the fresh weight, shoot length, number of roots, root length, vigor index, time to start emergence, time to 50% emergence and energy of emergence of forage maize. The interactive effect of varieties and priming techniques were not significant for mean emergence time and coefficient of uniformity of emergence. It is concluded that seed priming may serve as an appropriate treatment for accelerating the emergence of maize varieties studied.