Impact of seed priming on germination performance of fresh and aged seeds of Canola

Abstract

Priming fresh and naturally aged canola seeds with different substances and observing the seed germination properties are involved in this work. Fresh seeds and aged seeds of canola cv. "süzer" were treated with distilled water, -0.8 MPa polyethylene glycol (PEG) 6000 and 50 mM thiamine for 8 hours. Storage of canola seeds showed the loss of germination capacity compared to fresh seeds. Present findings indicate that priming can improve germination and germination speed both in fresh and aged seeds of canola. Germination percentage increased in aged seeds with distilled water priming and thiamine priming. Mean germination times were lower in the primed seeds. Seedling growth didn't improve with priming in both ages. It was concluded that germination performance improvement of aged seeds is possible with suitable priming.