Effects of priming on germination and biochemical attributes of three maize lines under saline condition

Abstract

It has been shown that the adverse effects of salinity can vary between different varieties of the same plant species. This study was conducted to determine the tolerability of three newly released lines of maize to saline conditions when primed with ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) and salicylic acid (SA) each at 1.0 M concentration; seeds primed with distilled water were used as control. Concentrations of 0, 50, 100, 150 and 300 mM NaCl were tested. The experiment followed a 3x3x5 factorial arrangement of treatments with three replications. The results revealed significant interaction between maize lines and salinity where the germination percentage of line SWAN-LSR-Y was much more affected than the other lines at the salinity level of 50 mM, and its speed of germination was more affected than the others when passing from 150 to 300 mM NaCl. The seedling lengths (radicle and plumule) and seed vigor index were influenced by significant interaction between the primer and salinity, where EDTA enhanced better seedling growth than the other primers when the salinity did not exceed 150 mM. OMR-LSR-SY maize line did not show tolerability at this concentration. Similarly, EDTA and SA treated maize lines showed lower accumulation of reactive oxygen species such as superoxide anion radical (O2-), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), as well as a decrease in the malondialdehyde (MDA) contents, most importantly in SWAN-LSR-Y and BR9928-OMR-SR-Y maize lines. Catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were enhanced in SWAN-LSR- Y and BR9928-OMR-SR-Y upon application of EDTA.

Vulnerability of Xylem Embolism in Maize Cultivars with Different Drought Tolerance under Water and Salt Stress

“…In the CK treatment, plants were irrigated with plain water, and soil moisture was maintained at 70-75% of field capacity, for drought stress (WD), plain water irrigation was performed, with soil moisture controlled at 50-55%. In salt stress (SS) treatment, plants were irrigated with a 50 mmol/L NaCl solution [41,42], with moisture maintained at 70-75%, and the combined water and salt stress (WS) treatment, irrigation was performed with a 50 mmol/L NaCl solution, with soil moisture controlled at 50-55%. Each treatment had 5 replicates (Table 2).…”

Enhancing Germination and Seedling Growth in Salt Stressed Maize Lines through Chemical Priming

“…Different seed priming methods have been used over the years; by soaking seeds in distilled water (hydro-priming), soaking in solutions such as PEG, potassium salts (Osmopriming), soaking in salt solutions (halopriming) and soaking in plant growth hormones such as salicylic acid, indole acetic acid and thiamine (Khan et al, 2016;Shehu et al, 2019). There have been various reported evidences on the use of seed priming methods to improve seedling germination and early seedling growth under stress conditions (Lazim & Ramadhan, 2020;Olayinka et al, 2022). This study intends to explore the tolerance level of three newly released maize cultivars and evaluate the effectiveness of primers, including H2O, KNO3, ascorbic acid, and salicylic acid, in mitigating stress in maize.…”