Seed priming of sorghum cultivars to tolerate salt stress

Abstract

A laboratory experiment was carried out in the laboratories of College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Baghdad in 2017. Three factors were studied; Sorghum bicolor L. cultivars (Inqath, Rabeh and Buhoth70), primed and unprimed seed, and salt stress (0, 6, 9 and 12 dS.m-1). The aim was to improve germination and seedling growth under salt stress. The results showed significant superiority of Buhoth70 cultivar compared to others, significantly superiority of primed seed compared to the unprimed and significant negative impact as long as increasing levels of salt stress at germination ratio, plumule length, dry seedling weight and seedling vigor index. The interaction between cultivars, priming and salt stress showed that primed cultivars seed were better than unprimed to tolerate the salt stress at the same level of stress. A significant positive correlation found between all traits studied. It can conclude there was a role to the genotype and seed priming could enhance seed performance to tolerate salt stress. It can recommend priming sorghum seeds before planting under salt stress.