Seed germination and vigor: ensuring crop sustainability in a changing climate

Abstract

In the coming decades, maintaining a steady food supply for the increasing world population will require high-yielding crop plants which can be productive under increasingly variable conditions. Maintaining high yields will require the successful and uniform establishment of plants in the field under altered environmental conditions. Seed vigor, a complex agronomic trait that includes seed longevity, germination speed, seedling growth, and early stress tolerance, determines the duration and success of this establishment period. Elevated temperature during early seed development can decrease seed size, number, and fertility, delay germination and reduce seed vigor in crops such as cereals, legumes, and vegetable crops. Heat stress in mature seeds can reduce seed vigor in crops such as lettuce, oat, and chickpea. Warming trends and increasing temperature variability can increase seed dormancy and reduce germination rates, especially in crops that require lower temperatures for germination and seedling establishment. To improve seed germination speed and success, much research has focused on selecting quality seeds for replanting, priming seeds before sowing, and breeding varieties with improved seed performance. Recent strides in understanding the genetic basis of variation in seed vigor have used genomics and transcriptomics to identify candidate genes for improving germination, and several studies have explored the potential impact of climate change on the percentage and timing of germination. In this review, we discuss these recent advances in the genetic underpinnings of seed performance as well as how climate change is expected to affect vigor in current varieties of staple, vegetable, and other crops.

Comprehensive seed priming assessment of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. in germination and seedling growth stage under salt stress

“…The priming × salinity interaction effect was significant for all studied traits (Table 1). High concentrations of salinity prevent and reduce the performance of most plants, but seed emergence is the utmost momentous process for well seed germination in medicinal plants (Nadjafi et al, 2006;Reed et al, 2022). The highest germination rate and percentage of T. polium seeds were obtained at concentrations of 500-2500 ppm GA3.…”

Multi-Omics Approaches Unravel Specific Features of Embryo and Endosperm in Rice Seed Germination

“…As described for other species, rice germination implies a set of events that begins at the imbibition of the dry mature seed and finishes at the elongation of the embryonic axis (Bewley, 1997). Seed vigor and physiological performance are of paramount importance for proper seedling emergence, increase in crop yield, and reduce the cost of agriculture production (Rajjou et al, 2012;Finch-Savage and Bassel, 2016;Reed et al, 2022). Seed germination is usually defined as a sequential physiological process, including three phases of water uptake (Bradford, 1990).…”

The resilience of pioneer crops in the highlands of Central Asia: Archaeobotanical investigation at the Chap II site in Kyrgyzstan

“…Such large variation in caryopses size is usually associated with environmental conditions during crop development that is common for many plant species (Salisbury, 1974;Goodman and Brown, 1988;Moles et al, 2005). Plant exposure to heat, for example, can decrease seed size during development (Reed et al, 2022). Previous studies have suggested that the variability in cereal caryopses can arise from unstable temperatures and/or strong winds and rains, which can enable the survival of certain landraces while eliminating others over time (Motuzaite Matuzeviciute et al, 2018).…”