Comparison Effect of different Seed priming methods on Sunflower Germination and seedling growth

Seed priming is a method improving seed germination and seedling establishment under stressful conditions. It has been successfully demonstrated to improve germination and emergence in seeds of many crops. This study was conducted to evaluation effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG), urea and potassium nitrate (KNO3) priming on sunflower germination traits and early growth. The study included two experiments based on completely randomized design (CRD) with four replicates. The first and second experiment consisted comparison urea with PEG and KNO3 with PEG, respectively; which each priming method had four levels (0.00, -0.05, -0.10 and -0.15 bar). The result showed that urea and KNO3 priming had no positive and significant effect on germination percentage, while significantly increased radicle and shoot length. Also PEG in both experiments significantly decreased germination percentage and increased seedling growth. Increasing effect of urea and KNO3 seed priming on seedling growth was more than PEG, thus these increasing effect of urea and KNO3 priming could be due to seed nutrition.