Monitoring the Changes in Germination Characteristics and Seedling Growth between Storage and Non-storage of Primed Tall Fescue Seed

In seed priming studies, seeds usually are sown directly in the field or stored for short periods of time. Priming provides controlled hydration of seeds to a level that allows pre-germination metabolic activity to proceed, but prevents the actual emergence of the radicle after priming, the seeds can be dried back to the initial moisture content. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of storage on the primed seed of tall fescue. Hydropriming and osmopriming methods were used in this study to prime the seeds. The water osmotic potential for osmopriming was between -1.5 and -2.2 MPa. After drying, the seeds were first divided into two groups. For the first group, the seeds were sealed in aluminum foil bags and stored at 25°C for up to 1 year and the second group was used for un-stored germination test. Germination percentage for primed seeds stored at 25°C for 1 year was decreased significantly compared to the un-stored primed seeds in most treatments, but the control seeds (stored non-primed seeds) in comparison with hydropriming for 1 day had the lowest germination value. The results revealed that significantly decreased the germination percentage in stored seeds. The mean germination times of seeds primed and un-stored were lower than those of stored primed seeds. Generally results show that in order to improve seed germination performance without loss of longevity of tall fescue species, hydropriming can be advised. Between all priming treatments, hydropriming, was known to improve germination performance without loss of longevity. Also hydropriming as physiological treatment caused an increase in the seed performance following storage conditions of F. arundinacea.