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Seed Priming Technology in the Amelioration of Salinity Stress in Plants

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Advances in Seed Priming

Abstract

A large proportion of the global cultivable land is inflicted by saline conditions. Several popular plants and staple crops cannot be cultivated on these vast stretches of land due to their susceptibility to salt stress. Crops growing under such suboptimal conditions exhibit deteriorated physiological development and compromised yields. Several agro-biotechnology-supported programmes are available to enhance plant salt tolerance. Among them, seed priming or ‘pretreatment’ is the most acceptable one from the point of biosafety and socio-economic views. Seed priming provides an abiotic stress-like condition to the dormant seed. It partially reprogrammes the seed metabolome so that it experiences such suboptimal condition and can better adapt to salt stress. Partial hydration of the seed during priming weakens the endosperm, channelizes the energy reserves, makes the seed ready for radicle protrusion (germination) and recharges the entire antioxidant machinery. This chapter provides an insight into the multiple mechanisms via which seed priming with various inorganic as well as endogenous agents can ameliorate salinity stress-related damages across multiple plant species.

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Acknowledgements

The financial support from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India, through the Project [38(1387)/14/EMR-II] to Dr. Aryadeep Roychoudhury is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Post Graduate Department of Biotechnology, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Aditya Banerjee & Aryadeep Roychoudhury

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  1. Aditya Banerjee
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  2. Aryadeep Roychoudhury
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Amitava Rakshit

  2. Department of Mycology and Plant Pathology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Harikesh Bahadur Singh

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Banerjee, A., Roychoudhury, A. (2018). Seed Priming Technology in the Amelioration of Salinity Stress in Plants. In: Rakshit, A., Singh, H. (eds) Advances in Seed Priming . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0032-5_5

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