UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE, FAISALABAD

Department of Seed Science and Technology

Synopsis for M.Sc. (Hons.) seed science and technology Degree

TITLE: Seed priming is a technique for improving Maize seed germination

a) Name of Student : Ameer Hamza Aslam

b) Registration No : 2019-ag-110

c) Supervisor Name : Pro. Dr Aman Ullah Malik

Abstract
Maize is an important cereal crop that lies at third after Wheat and rice in Pakistan. It is
very sensitive to salt, heat, drought, cold, and heavy metal stresses. To evaluate the effects of
seed priming on the maize seed germination on maize, the experiment will be conducted in the
research area of the department of seed science and technology at the University of Agriculture
Faisalabad. This investigation will be performed as a factorial experiment under a completely
randomized design (CRD) with four treatments and 4 replications in each treatment. There will
be 20 pots and each pot have 10 seeds of maize. The pots will be filled with pure sand, and seeds
of each hybrid were sown in each pot and were let to germinate. After germination, the data will
be collected. Data will be collected for days to emergence, Growth parameters include, No. of
leaves, Plant Height, Cob Height, Internodal distance. Leaf length, Leaf width, Stem diameter,
Germination percentage Statistical analysis will be used to sort out the most tolerated double
haploid maize hybrid, and genetic advance will also be measured.

Keywords:

Priming, Germination, Seed, Maize, Statistical analysis

 UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE, FAISALABAD
Department of Seed Science and Technology
Synopsis for M.Sc. (Hons.) seed science and technology Degree

TITLE: Seed priming is a technique for improving Maize seed germination

DATE OF ADMISSION

a) Date of Admission : 25-9-2019

b) Date of Initiation : 27-10-2019

c) Probable Duration : 2 years

PERSONAL

a) Name of Student : Ameer Hamza Aslam

b) Registration No : 2019-ag-110

SUPERVISORY COMMITTIE

i) Supervisor : Pro .Dr.Aman Ullah Malik ([email protected])

ii) Member : Dr. Ahmad Sattar Khan ([email protected])

iii) Member : Dr. Abdul Rehman ([email protected])

Introduction

Maize (Zea mays L.) is the 3rd most crucial and largest crop is grown in the world after
Wheat and Rice production (Cha-Um et al., 2011). Maize is a crucial food and feed crop plant
globally, and it is frequently referred to as the king of cereal crops. Maize is a short duration
crop. It belongs to the Poaceae family. Maize is a diploid crop with (n=10) and 2n= 20
chromosomes. After Wheat and Rice production in Pakistan, Maize is the third most crucial
cereal crop. Its contribution is 2.9 percent to value addition in the agriculture sector, and in
GDP, 0.6 % value addition. During (2019-2020) 1413 thousand hectares cultivated area of
Maize, while 6.0 % to 7.236 million tonnes production is increased in contrast to (2018-2019)
6.826 million tonnes (Pakistan economic survey report 2019-2020). The estimated 70 % yield
production of maize is used directly and indirectly in food consumption. In contrast, maize's
remaining production is used in the starch formation and also used in poultry factories for the
purpose of feed formation (Tanzeel-ur-Rehman and Malik, 2018).

Maize's grain adds up to grain protein, grain starch, crude fiber, grain oil, the embryo as
11.77% 4.85%, 71.966%, 9.7396%,9.4392%, (Ali et al., 2014). Globally, maize is an essential
cereal grain crop that supplies basic food to the millions population of peoples and supplies
about 50% additional of the caloric energy utilization. To the fulfillment of a large amount of
maize demand, till 2050, its production needs to be doubled, and even under the abiotic stresses
like salt stress, which is one of the most frequent environmental stress in optimum Maize
production (Farooq et al., 2015). In Pakistan, there are two seasons in each year for its
cultivations, the first autumn and second spring season.

Due to the active participation of multinational companies in the country, the production
and area of spring maize have increased compared to previous years (Ahsan et al., 2013).in
developing countries, maize consumption increases day by day because it is used as the chief and
primary food for them. In contrast, it is utilized as animal feed and other byproducts in advanced
nations. Because of high production in yield, it is the main crop for the more populated countries
like Pakistan to fulfill the demand for food (Akram et al., 2010).

There are two seasons of maize production; the spring season crop is sown from mid-
February to the end of March and the main summer crop from June to mid-July. Both seasons’
crops have durations of about 3–4 months. Mostly open-pollinated maize cultivars are sown.
Priming allows some of the metabolic processes necessary for germination to occur without
germination take place. In priming, seeds are soaked in different solutions with high osmotic
potential. This prevents the seeds from absorbing in enough water for radicle protrusion, thus
suspending the seeds in the lag phase (Taylor et al., 1998). Seed priming has been commonly
used to reduce the time between seed sowing and seedling emergence and to synchronize
emergence. Seed priming have important role in increasing the yield of different crops in relation
to enhance 37, 40, 70, 22, 31, 56, 50 and 20.6% in wheat, barley, upland rice, maize, sorghum,
pearl millet, and chick pea respectively (Harris et al., 2005).

Objective

To evaluate the effect of various seed priming treatments on germination of maize seeds.
Review of literature

Germination is an important stage of seedling establishment and therefore it plays a key role
in crop production. Crop establishment however depends on the interaction between seedbed
environment and seed quality (Perry, 1984) where salinity has been identified as one of the major
seedbed factors influencing establishment. Priming is one of the most important physiological
method which improves the seed performance and provides faster and synchronized germination.
The primed seeds give earlier, more uniform and sometime greater germination and seedling
establishment and growth (Bradford, 1986).

Priming technique is the need of present time to get the enhanced germination and
establishment in maize in order to utilize the soil moisture and solar radiation to a maximum
extent. In this way plants would be able to complete their growth before the stresses arrive
(Subedi and Ma, 2005). Research on priming has proved that crop seeds primed with water
germinated early, root and shoot development started rapidly, grew more vigorously and seedling
length was also significantly greater than non- primed seeds. It could also improve the
performance of crop by alleviating the effect of salts under saline soil conditions (Mohammadi et
al., 2008). Soaking seed in water overnight before sowing can increase the rate of germination
and emergence even in soil conditions where moisture content is very low (Clark et al., 2001).
Inhibition of fungal contaminants were checked by using the leaf and bark water extracts of
Jatrophacurcas and Moringa oleifera. Priming increases the environmental range suitable for
germination, and provides faster and synchronous seedling emergence (McDonald, 1999).
Common priming methods such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatment are not suitable for large
scale cereal crop production because farmers in developing countries could not cover the costs.
PEG priming is frequently applied to vegetable seeds in laboratory and field experiments. Other
priming methods such as drum priming need special equipment, and some methods are not easy
to operate or not cheap enough to be used in large scale (Hu et al., 2005).

Seed priming have various techniques for improving the performance of the growth,
emergence, and yield of the crop. There are some techniques which are used i.e. hydro-priming,
halopriming, Osmopriming and hormonal priming.
Hydro-priming

Hydro-priming involves soaking the seeds in water before sowing (Pill and Necker,
2001) and may or may not be followed by air-drying of the seeds. In many agricultural areas, a
major cause of poor stand establishment and low crop yield is unfavorable environmental
conditions for seed germination and seedling emergence. However, rapidly germinating
seedlings could emerge and produce deep roots before the upper layers of the soil are dried out
and crusted, which may result in good crop establishment and higher crop yield. Rafiq et al.,
(2006) reported that seed priming reduces the effect of salinity on the morphological parameter
of the plants. Any factor that facilitates rapid germination may contribute to establishment of a
successful crop. A low-cost approach, designated as on farm seed priming and soaking of seed in
water before sowing. This pre-sowing seed treatment, known as hydro-priming, allows the seed
to imbibe water and go through the first phase of germination in which pre-germination
metabolic activities are started while the latter two phases of germination are inhibited (Pill and
Necker, 2001).

Soaking seed in water and drying before sowing is the easiest way to achieve hydration,
a major disadvantage is that it may result in uneven hydration and non-uniform germination.
Soaking is not suitable for some plant species, as rapid hydration may cause leakage of essential
nutrients out of the seed, resulting in seed damage. To overcome these potential problems,
various methods have been devised to deliver appropriate hydration to the seed. One method is
seed humidification a pre-sowing treatment in which seed are treated under conditions of high
humidity (Suzuki and Khan, 2001). Improvement in salt tolerance of maize (Zea mays L.)
(Ashraf and Rauf, 2001), pigeon pea (Cajanuscajan) and Acacia seeds was also observed
following hydro-priming. The precise mechanisms by which application of this simple technique
can achieve sometimes quite dramatic improvements in plant growth and seed yield in saline or
nonsaline conditions remain unclear. Some researchers have considered hydro-priming a key
technology that is simple and cost effective, the impact of which is very high in terms of
enhanced yield (Ashraf and Foolad, 2005).

Hydro-priming plays an important role in the enzymatic activities of the wheat, maize,
rice, and other vegetable seeds. In seed of some plant species, trypsin-like proteolytic enzymes,
which are produced during seed development, are important during germination. The activity of
such enzymes, however, is often prevented by trypsin inhibitors, which may be present in the
seed and play regulatory roles in protein mobilization during germination (Bewley and Black,
1994).

Halo priming

Halo priming refers to soaking of seeds in solution of inorganic salts i.e. NaCl, KNO3 CaCl2,
CaSO4, etc. A number of studies have shown a significant improvement in seed germination,
seedling emergence and establishment, and final crop yield in salt affected soils in response to
halopriming. Khan et al. (2009) evaluated the response of seeds primed with NaCl solution (1
mM) at different salinity levels 0, 3, 6 and 9 dSm-1 in relation to early growth stage and
concluded that seed priming with NaCl has been found to be better treatment as compared to
non-primed seeds in case of hot pepper for improving the seedling vigor and stand establishment
under salt- stressed conditions. Priming with NaCl and KCl was helpful in removing the
deleterious effects of salts (Iqbal et al., 2006). Rice seed treated with a mixed salt solution
germinated more speedily than unprimed seed under salt-stress conditions (Chang-Zheng et al.,
2002). Seed germination is promoted by halopriming but also stimulate subsequent growth,
thereby enhancing final crop yield. Seedling establishment is an important for the better growth
and development of the plant either treated with priming agent or not. Halopriming have very
important role in germination, seedling emergence, and plant growth at all developmental stage
of the plants. It was determined that rice seed treated with mixed salt solution germinated
significantly more rapidly than unprimed seed under salt-stress conditions (Chang- Zheng et al.,
2002)

Osmopriming

Osmopriming also has been shown to induce nuclear DNA synthesis in the radical tip
cells in tomato (Liu et al., 1997) and several other plant species, including corn (Zea mays L.)
(Garcia et al., 1995). Osmopriming has been shown to activate processes related to cell cycle. In
wild rye (Leymus chinensis L.). It is commercially used technique for improving seed
germination and vigour. It involves controlled imbibition of seeds to start the initial events of
germination followed by seed drying up to its original weight. Osmopriming has many
advantages including rapid and uniform emergence, improved seedling growth and better stand
establishment under any environmental and soil conditions (Chiu et al., 2002).
Hormonal priming

Hormonal priming is the pre-seed treatment with different hormones i.e. salicylic acid,
ascorbate, kinetin, etc. which promote the growth and development of the seedlings. The
interactive effects of salinity stress (40, 80, Intl J Agri Crop Sci. Vol., 6 (20), 1373-1381, 2013
1379 120 and 160 mMNaCl) by soaking wheat seeds in ascorbic acid and thiamin (0.3 mM) or
sodium salicaylate (0.6 mM) (Hamada and al-Hakimi, 2001). The contents of cellulose, lignin of
either shoots or roots, pectin of roots and soluble sugars were lowered with increase of NaCl
concentration. On the other hand, contents of hemi-cellulose and soluble sugars of roots, starch
and soluble proteins of either shoots or roots and amino acids of roots were increased. Seed
soaking in ascorbic acid, thiamin or sodium salicylate could counteract the adverse effects of
NaCl salinity on the seedlings of wheat by suppression of salt stress included accumulation of
praline (Al-Hakimi and Hamada, 2001)

Ashraf et al., (2002) found that GA3 treatment enhanced the vegetative growth of two wheat
cultivars under but caused a slight reduction in their grain yield. GA3 treatment enhanced the
deposition of Na+ and Cl- in both root and shoots of wheat plants under prevailing field
conditions. It also caused a significant increase in photosynthetic activity in both lines at the
vegetative stage of the crop. Hussein et al. (2007) evaluated the effect of salinity and salicylic
acid on growth of maize plants. The beneficial aspects of SA are that it could be used for the
improvement of salt bearing capacity of many crops.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The subsequent research plan will be conducted in Green House at University of
Agriculture Faisalabad. To study the effects of seed priming on germination. The maize seed are grown
in pots and kept in green house. There will be 2 factors first in Control and treatments (Hydropriming,
Osmopriming, Hormonal priming, Halopriming). There are four treatments and each treatment contain 4
replication and each replication contain 4 pots and 10 seeds of maize are sown in it.

Following parameters should be observed.

 Growth parameters
 No. of leaves
  Plant Height
 Cob Height
 Internodal distance
 Leaf length
 Leaf width
 Stem diameter
 Germination percentage

Experimental design and data analysis

The experiment will be laid out with three replications in accordance with the two-factor
factorial arrangement Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Using Statistics’ 9® tools, the
data collected will be subjected to statistical analysis (ANOVA and mean comparison test ) (Steel
et al., 1997).
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