Improvement of eggplant seed germination and seedling emergence at low temperature by seed priming with incorporation SA into KNO₃ solution

Abstract

The effects of incorporation SA into KNO₃ priming solution on the germination and emergence of eggplant seeds at 15°C were investigated. Seeds were primed into 3% KNO₃ containing 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, or 1 mM salicylic acid (SA) for 6 days, respectively. After the priming, seeds were either immediately used for germination and emergence test at 15°C or stored at 4°C for 1 month and then for the germination test. The primed eggplant seeds in general improved the final germination percentage (FGP), germination rate (G₅₀), and germination synchrony (E_10–90) at 15°C compared with non-priming seeds. Priming seeds in 3% KNO₃ solution supplement with 0.1 mM SA resulted in the best priming effect compared with other priming treatments and non-priming treatment, and all of the beneficial priming effects were still retained after stored at 4°C for 30 days. These results indicated that priming seeds in 3% KNO₃ solution containing 0.1 mM SA could be used as an effective method to improve low-temperature performance of eggplant seeds and subsequent seedling growth.

Keywords

eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) / priming / germination / low temperature / SA / KNO₃

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Acknowledgements

This study was founded by the Hebei Natural Science Foundation, China (No. C2006000450) and Scientific Achievement Application Foundation, Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 05EFN211300022).

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg