Skip to main content

Methods of Seed Priming

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Priming and Pretreatment of Seeds and Seedlings

Abstract

The food security of world population depends on our limited agricultural land and the reproductive capacity of field crops. Hence, plant scientist are putting their efforts to increase the crop yield by using the existing resources. Seed priming is a very promising, efficient, and low-cost approach to increase the germination, the growth, as well as the productive capability of crops. Water, inorganic salts, sugars, solid medium with water and nutrients, beneficial microbes, micronutrients, hormones, rhizobacteria, and organic sources are used as priming agents for seeds. Seed priming is not only used for improving the plant growth and yield but it also increases the abiotic stress tolerance. This chapter will focus on classification of seed priming by using different priming agents.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Afzal I, Basra SMA, Ahmad N, Farooq M (2005) Optimization of hormonal priming techniques for alleviation of salinity stress in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Caderno de Pesquisa Sér. Bio, Santa Cruz do Sul 17(1):95–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Afzal I, Basra SMA, Farooq M, Nawaz A (2006) Alleviation of salinity stress in spring wheat by hormonal priming with ABA, salicylic acid and ascorbic acid. Int J Agric Biol 8(1):23–28

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Afzal I, Basra SMA, Ahmad N, Lodhi TE (2007) Counteraction of salinity stress on wheat plants by pre-sowing seed treatments. Pak J Agric Sci 44:104–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Ansari O, Zadeh FS (2012) Osmo and hydro priming improvement germination characteristics and enzyme activity of Mountain Rye (Secale montanum) seeds under drought stress. J Stress Physiol Biochem 8(4):253–261

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashrafi E, Razmjoo K (2010) Effect of priming on seed germination and field emergence of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.). Seed Sci Technol 38(3):675–681

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azadi MS, Younesi E, Tabatabaei SA (2013) Seed germination, seedling growth and enzyme activity of wheat seed primed under drought and different temperature conditions. J Stress Physiol Biochem 9(4):1–4

    Google Scholar 

  • Basra SMA, Farooq M, Tabassum R (2005) Physiological and biochemical aspects of seed vigor enhancement treatments in fine rice (Oryza sativa L.). Seed Sci Technol 33:623–628

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basra SM, Farooq M, Wahid A, Khan MB (2006) Rice seed invigoration by hormonal and vitamin priming. Seed Sci Technol 34(3):753–758

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bastia DK, Rout AK, Mohanty SK, Prusty AM (1999) Effect of sowing date sowing methods and seed soaking on yield and oil content of rainfed safflower grown in Kalahandi, Orissa. Indian J Agron 44:621–623

    Google Scholar 

  • Callan NW, Mathre D, Miller JB (1990) Bio-priming seed treatment for biological control of pythium ultimum preemergence damping-off in sh2 sweet corn. Plant Dis 74(5):368–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang-Zheng H, Jin H, Zhi-Yu Z, Song-Lin R, Wen-Jian S (2002) Effect of seed priming with mixed-salt solution on germination and physiological characteristics of seedling in rice (Oryza sativa L.) under stress conditions. J Zhejiang Univ (Agric Life Sci) 28:175–178

    Google Scholar 

  • Dezfuli PM, Zadeh FS, Janmohammadi M (2008) Influence of priming techniques on seed germination behavior of maize inbred lines (Zea mays L.). J Agric Biol Sci 3(3):22–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Farooq M, Basra SMA, Hafeez K, Ahmad N (2005) Thermal hardening: a new seed vigor enhancement tool in rice. J Integr Plant Biol 47:187–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farooq M, Basra SMA, Wahid A (2006a) Priming of field-sown rice seed enhances germination, seedling establishment, allometry and yield. Plant Growth Regul 49:285–294

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Farooq M, Basra SMA, Tabassum R, Afzal I (2006b) Enhancing the performance of direct seeded fine rice by seed priming. Plant Prod Sci 9:446–456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farooq M, Basra SMA, Khalid M, Tabassum R, Mehmood T (2006c) Nutrient homeostasis, reserves metabolism and seedling vigor as affected by seed priming in coarse rice. Can J Bot 84:1196–1202

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Farooq M, Basra SMA, Afzal I, Khaliq A (2006d) Optimization of hydropriming techniques for rice seed invigoration. Seed Sci Technol 34:507–512

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farooq M, Basra SMA, Ahmad N (2007) Improving the performance of transplanted rice by seed priming. Plant Growth Regul 51:129–137

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Farooq M, Basra SMA, Asad SA (2008a) Comparison of conventional puddling and dry tillage in rice–wheat system. Paddy Water Environ 6:397–404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farooq M, Basra SMA, Rehman H, Saleem BA (2008b) Seed priming enhances the performance of late sown wheat (Triticumaestivum L.) by improving chilling tolerance. J Agron Crop Sci 194:55–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farooq M, Basra SMA, Wahid A, Ahmad N (2010) Changes in nutrient-homeostasis and reserves metabolism during rice seed priming: consequences for germination and seedling growth. Agric Sci China 9:101–108

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Farooq M, Atique-ur-Rehman AT, Habib M (2011) Boron nutripriming improves the germination and early seedling growth of rice (Oryza sativa L.). J Plant Nutr 34(10):1507–1515

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Farooq M, Ullah A, Rehman A, Nawaz A, Nadeem A, Wakeel A, Nadeem F, Siddique KH (2018) Application of zinc improves the productivity and biofortification of fine grain aromatic rice grown in dry seeded and puddled transplanted production systems. Field Crops Res 216:53–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghassemi GK, Aliloo AA, Valizadeh M, Moghaddam M (2008) Effect of hydro and osmo-priming on seed germination and Field Emergence of Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.). Not Bot Horti Agrobot Cluj 36(1):29–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Gongping GU, Guo Rong WU, Chang Mei L, Chang Fang Z (2000) Effects of PEG priming on vigour index and activated oxygen metabolism in soybean seedlings. Chin J Oil Crop Sci 22:26–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Grzesik M, Nowak J (1998) Effects of matriconditioning and hydro-priming on Helichrysumbracteatum L. seed germination, seedling emergence and stress tolerance. Seed Sci Technol 26:363–376

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris D, Joshi A, Khan PA, Gothakar P, Sodhi PS (1999) On-farm seed priming in semi-arid agriculture: Development and evaluation in corn, rice and chickpea in India using participatory methods. Exp Agric 35:15–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris D, Raghuwanshi BS, Gangwar JS, Singh SC, Joshi KD, Rashid A, Hollington PA (2001) Participatory evaluation by farmers of on-farm seed priming in wheat in India, Nepal and Pakistan. Exp Agric 37:403–415

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hur SN (1991) Effect of osmoconditioning on the productivity of Italian ryegrass and sorghum under suboptimal conditions. Korean J Anim Sci 33:101–105

    Google Scholar 

  • Ilyas S, Sutariati GAK, Suwarno FC, Sudarsono (2002) Matriconditioning improves the quality and protein level of medium vigor hot pepper seed. Seed Technol 65–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Iqbal M, Ashraf M, Jamil A, Rehman S (2006) Does seed priming induce changes in the levels of some endogenous plant hormones in hexaploidwheat plants under salt stress. J Int Plant Biol 48:181–189

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Iqbal S, Farooq M, Cheema SA, Afzal I (2017) Boron seed priming improves the seedling emergence, growth, grain yield and grain biofortification of bread wheat. Int J Agri Biol 19(1):177–182

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jyotsna V, Srivastava AK (1998) Physiological basis of salt stress resistance in pigeonpea (Cajanuscajan L.)-II. Pre-sowing seed soaking treatment in regulating early seedling metabolism during seed germination. Plant Physiol Biochem 25:89–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Kadiri M, Hussaini MA (1999) Effect of hardening pretreatments on vegetative growth, enzyme activities and yield of Pennisetumamericanum and Sorghum bicolor L. Global J Pure Appl Sci 5:179–183

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kamithi KD, Wachira F, Kibe AM (2016) Effects of different priming methods and priming durations on enzyme activities in germinating chickpea (Cicerarietinum L.). Am J Nat Appl Sci 1:1):1–1):9

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaur S, Gupta AK, Kaur N (2002) Effect of osmo and hydropriming of chickpea seeds on seedling growth and carbohydrate metabolism under water deficit stress. Plant Growth Regul 37:17–22

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Khan AA (1992) Preplant physiological seed conditioning. Hortic Rev 14:131–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Khan HA, Ayub CM, Pervez MA, Bilal RM, Shahid MA, Ziaf K (2009) Effect of seed priming with NaCl on salinity tolerance of hot pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) at seedling stage. Soil Environ 28:81–87

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kubik KK, Eastin JA, Eastin JD, Eskridge KM (1988) Solid matrix priming of tomato and pepper. In: Proceedings of International Conference on Stand Establishment in Horticultural crops, Lancaster, pp 86–96

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar S (2005) Influence of pre-sowing seed treatment and seed pelleting on storability in brinjal (Solanummelongena L.). MSc (Agri) Thesis, University of Agriculture Science, Dharwad, India

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar A, Gangwar JS, Prasad SC, Harris D (2002) On-farm seed priming increases yield of direct-sown finger millet in India. Int Sorghum Millets News 43:90–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Kyuak H, Hopper NW, Bridham RD (1995) Effects of temperature and presoaking on germination, root length and shoot length of sesame (Sesamumindicum L.). Environ Exp Bot 35(3):345–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahmood A, Turgay OC, Farooq M, Hayat R (2016) Seed biopriming with plant growth promotingrhizobacteria: a review. FEMS Microbiology Ecol 92(8). PMID 2722222, https://doi.org/10.1093/fersec/fiw112

  • Mohammadi MJ, Dezfuli PM, Sharifzadeh F (2008) Seed invigoration techniques to improve germination and early growth of inbred line of maize under salinity and drought stress. J Appl Plant Physiol 34:215–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Nabizadeh E, Yousefi F, Gerami F (2012) Osmopriming effects on safflower seed germination and seedling growth. Eur J Exp Biol 2(3):623630

    Google Scholar 

  • Nadeem M, Palni LMS, Purohit AN, Pandey H, Nandi SK (2000) Propagation and conservation of Podophyllum hexandrum Royle: an important medicinal herb. Nandi Biol Conserv 92:121–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nagar R, Dadlani PM, Sharma SP (1998) Effect of hydro-priming on field emergence and crop growth of maizegenotypes. Seed Sci Res 26:1–5

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagarajan S, Pandita VK (2001) Improvement in germination characteristics in artificially aged seeds of tomato by osmoconditioning. Seed Res 29(2):136–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Nalini T, Poonam S, Lal C, Katiyar PK, Vaish CP (2001) Effect of presowing seed treatments on germination growth and yield of onion. Seed Res 29(2):238–239

    Google Scholar 

  • Nascimento WM (2003) Muskmelon seed germination and seedling development in response to seed priming. Sci Agric 60(1):71–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nascimento WM, Cantliffe DJ, Huber DJ (2004) Ethylene evolution and endo-beta-mannanase activity during lettuce seed germination at high temperature. Sci Agric 61(2):156–163

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nautiyal MC, Rawat AS, Bhadula SK, Purohit AN (1987) Seed germination in Podophyllum hexandrum. Seed Res 15:206–209

    Google Scholar 

  • Nawaz J, Hussain M, Jabbar A, Nadeem GA, Sajid M, Subtain MU, Shabbir I (2013) Seed priming a technique. Int J Agric Crop Sci 6(20):1373–1381

    Google Scholar 

  • Nawaz A, Farooq M, Ahmad R, Basra SMA, Lal R (2016) Seed priming improves stand establishment and productivity of no till wheat grown after direct seeded aerobic and transplanted flooded rice. Eur J Agron 76:130–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pallavi HM, Kalappa VP, Ramegowda (2006) Application of vigour tests and seed invigoration in cauliflower. XII Nation Seed Seminiferous Prosperity Qual Seed 24(26):101

    Google Scholar 

  • Pandita VK, Nagarajan S (2004) Effect of pre-sowing treatments in improving emergence of bitter gourd seedlings. Indian J Hortic 61(3):280–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Pradhan N, Prakash P, Manimurugan C, Tiwari SK, Sharma RP, Singh PM (2015) Screening of tomato genotypes using osmopriming with PEG 6000 under salinity stress. Res Environ Life Sci 8(2):245–250

    Google Scholar 

  • Rakshit A, Singh HB, Sen A (2015) Nutrient use efficiency: from basics to advances. Springer, New Delhi

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Reddy PP (2012) Bio-priming of seeds. In: Recent advances in crop protection. Springer, New Delhi, pp 83–90

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rehman A (2012) Evaluating the potential of seed priming with boron for improving chickpea productivity. M.Sc. (Hons.) Dissertation. Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad

    Google Scholar 

  • Rehman A, Farooq M, Ahmad R, Basra SMA (2015) Seed priming with zinc improves the germination and early seedling growth of wheat. Seed Sci Technol 43(2):262–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rehman A, Farooq M, Naveed M, Nawaz A, Shahzad B (2018a) Seed priming of Zn with endophytic bacteria improves the productivity and grain biofortification of bread wheat. Eur J Agron 94:98–107

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rehman A, Farooq M, Naveed M, Ozturk L, Nawaz A (2018b) Pseudomonas-aided zinc application improves the productivity and biofortification of bread wheat. Crop Pasture Sci 69(7):659–672

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roy NK, Srivastava AK (1999) Effect of presoaking seed treatment on germination and amylase activity of wheat (Triticumaestivum L.) under salt stress conditions. Rachis 18:46–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadeghi H, Khazaei F, Yari L, Sheidaei S (2011) Effect of seed osmopriming on seed germination behavior and vigour of soyabean (Glycine max L.). Agric Biol Sci 6:39–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Safiatou SS (2012) Effect of different seed priming methods on germination, seedling establishment and vigour in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.) andbambara groundnut (Vignasubterrenea (L.) Verdc.). Doctoral dissertation

    Google Scholar 

  • Salehzade H, Izadkhah Shishvan M, Chiyasi M (2009) Effect of seed priming on germination and seedling growth of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). J Biol Sci 4:629–631

    Google Scholar 

  • Sedghi M, Ali N, Esmaielpour B (2010) Effect of seed priming on germination and seedling growth of two medicinal plants under salinity. J Emir Food Agric 22:130–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shukla N, Verma Y, Shukla PK, Misra P (2016) Effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG) 6000 on seed priming in drought tolerant and sensitive barley (Hordeumvulgare L.) seeds. Int J Plant Sci 11(1):75–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh G, Gill SS, Sandhu KK (1999) Improved performance of muskmelon (Cucumis melo) seeds with osmoconditioning. Acta Agrobot 52(1–2):121–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh J, Kanwar JS, Geeta B (2004) Seed vigour as influenced by different seed priming treatments in okra (Abelmoschusesculentus L. Moench). Seed Res 32(2):122–125

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh P, Kumar A, Bajpai VP, Singh CB, Jatar AL (2006) Effect of pretreatment on partially aged seeds of sunflower (Heliatnhusannuus L.) for germination, vigour and seedling growth. National Seed Seminar, Abstract XII. Angrau, Hyderabad, p 130

    Google Scholar 

  • Sneideris LC, Gavassi MA, Campos ML, D’Amico-Damiao V, Carvalho RF (2015) Effects of hormonal priming on seed germination of pigeon pea under cadmium stress. An Acad Bras Cienc 87(3):1847–1852

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor AG, Harman GE (1990) Concepts and technologies of selected seed treatments. Annu Rev Phytopathol 28:321–329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thakur A, Thakur PS, Bhardwaj J (1997) The influence of osmoconditioning on germination potential and seedling performance of bell pepper. Seed Res 25(1):25–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Thakur A, Thakur PS, Dutt V, Thakur CL (2010) Conservation of Podophyllum hehandrum – an endangered medicinal herb through seeds. Indian J Plant Physiol 15:110–116

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Theerakulpisut P, Kanawapee N, Panwong B (2017) Seed priming alleviated salt stress effects on rice seedlings by improving Na+/K+ and maintaining membrane integrity. Int J Plant Biol 7:6402

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thirusenduraselvi D, Jerlin R (2009) Osmopriming of seeds to improve the performance of bitter gourd cv. CO-1. Int J Plant Sci 4(1):182–187

    Google Scholar 

  • Ullah A, Farooq M, Nadeem A, Rehman A, Asad SA, Nawaz A (2017) Manganese nutrition improves the productivity and grain biofortification of fine grain aromatic rice in conventional and conservation production systems. Paddy Water Environ 15(3):563–572

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright B, Rowse HR, Whipps JM (2003) Application of beneficial microorganisms to seeds during drum priming. Biomed Sci Technol 13(6):599–614

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yogananda DK, Vyakarnahal BS, Shekhargouda M (2004) Effect of seed invigoration with growth regulations and micronutrients on germination and seedling vigour of bell pepper cv. California Wonder. Karnataka J Agric Sci 17(4):811–813

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang S, Hu J, Zhang Y, Xie XJ, Knapp A (2007) Seed priming with brassinolide improves lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) seed germination and seedling growth in relation to physiological changes under salinity stress. Aust J Agric Res 5(8):811–815

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shakeel Ahmad .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Sher, A., Sarwar, T., Nawaz, A., Ijaz, M., Sattar, A., Ahmad, S. (2019). Methods of Seed Priming. In: Hasanuzzaman, M., Fotopoulos, V. (eds) Priming and Pretreatment of Seeds and Seedlings. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8625-1_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics