Priming seeds-method for increasing the germination of soybean seeds under drought stress conditions

Drought is one of the most important factors limiting the successful production of cultivated plants. One of the most sensitive stage to the water deficit in plants is seed germination. There are various methods of pre-sowing treatments that aim to reduce the negative impact of drought stress and improve seed germination. One of them is priming seeds. The aim of this experiment was to examine the effect of priming seeds in solutions - KNO3 (1%), ascorbic acid - AsA (100 mgl-1) and potassium chloride KCl (1%) on the reduction of the negative effect of drought stress. The effect of drought stress was simulated using different concentrations of PEG 6000 (0 (control), -0.30, -0.51, -0.80 MPa). The results of the research showed that with the increase of water deficiency, the effect of priming seeds is greater. At the water potential of the solution of -0.30 MPa, germination energy and seed germination increased on average by 6.77% and 5.08%, while at the water potential of the solution of -0.80 MPa, the increase was 19.28% and 16.75%, respectively. Also, priming seeds significantly reduced the intensity of lipid peroxidation and the content of free proline. From all the above, it can be concluded that priming of seeds is a method that can serve to improve the germination of soybean seeds in conditions of drought stress.