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Seed Priming with Gibberellic Acid (GA3) Alleviates Salinity Induced Inhibition of Germination and Seedling Growth of Zea mays L., Pisum sativum Var. abyssinicum A. Braun and Lathyrus sativus L.

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Abstract

Low seed germination, poor seedling establishment, and less crop productivity are commonly observed problems in salt-affected soils. Genetic modification of plants for creating good varieties and selection of crop plants that have best performance on saline soils are the major accomplishments done to minimize the problem. In addition, application of Gibberellic Acid (GA3) has been reported to increase germination percentage and seedling growth performance of crop plants under salt stress. The objective of the present study was therefore to investigate the effect of GA3 on germination and early seedling growth of three important crops under saline conditions. To this effect an experiment was conducted as factorial with completely randomized design with three replicates. The factors of the experiment were salinity with four levels (0, 4, 6, 8, and 12 dS/m), hormone (GA3 at 0.2 g/L versus no GA3) and the three crops (Zea mays L., Pisums sativum Var. abyssinicum A. Braun, and Lathyrus sativus L). Consequently, priming seeds of these crops with 0.2 g/L GA3 significantly improved germination percentage, reduced mean germination time, increased shoot and root length, and total weight of the crops (P < 0.05) when the salinity level is less than 8 dS/m. However, shoots of all crops performed better than the roots.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

    Berhanu Abraha Tsegay

  2. Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia

    Melkamu Andargie

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  1. Berhanu Abraha Tsegay
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  2. Melkamu Andargie
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Correspondence to Berhanu Abraha Tsegay.

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Tsegay, B.A., Andargie, M. Seed Priming with Gibberellic Acid (GA3) Alleviates Salinity Induced Inhibition of Germination and Seedling Growth of Zea mays L., Pisum sativum Var. abyssinicum A. Braun and Lathyrus sativus L.. J. Crop Sci. Biotechnol. 21, 261–267 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12892-018-0043-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12892-018-0043-0

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