GERMINATION CHARACTERS AS AFFECTED BY SEED PRIMING OF SOME COTTON CULTIVARS UNDER SALINITY STRESS

A.A. KANDIL¹, A.E. SHARIEF², M.S. AHMED^3
1Agronomy Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Egypt.
²Agronomy Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Egypt.
³Central Administration for Seed Certification (CASC), Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt.

Received : 30-12-2014     Accepted : 10-02-2015     Published : 20-03-2015
Volume : 4     Issue : 1       Pages : 144 - 154
World Res J Agron 4.1 (2015):144-154

Keywords : Cotton cultivars, Seed priming, Salinity levels, final germination percentage, germination rate, germination index, energy of germination and seedling vigor index
Academic Editor : Saleh El-sayed El-sayed Seadh
Conflict of Interest : None declared

To investigate the effect of priming and non-priming seed of some cotton cultivars i.e. Giza 45, Giza 86, and Giza 90 on critical stage of germination under salinity concentrations i.e. 0, 40, 80, 120, 160, 200 and 240 mM NaCl. A laboratory experiment was conducted at Giza Central Seed Testing Laboratory of Central Administration for Seed Certification (CASC), Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt. Germination characters i.e. final germination percentage, germination rate, germination index, energy of germination and seedling vigour index were estimated. The results indicated that highest averages of final germination percentage, germination rate, germination index, energy of germination, seedling vigor index were produced from primed seed. Giza 86 cultivar surpassed other studied cultivars in final germination percentage, germination rate and germination index, while Giza 90 cultivar surpassed other cultivars in energy of germination and seedling vigor index. Increasing salinity levels from 0 to 40, 80, 120, 160, 200 and 240 mM NaCl significantly decreased all studied characters. Results indicated that germination rate, germination index, energy of germination and seedling vigor index significantly affected by the interaction between seed priming and cultivars. Final germination percentage, germination rate, germination index, energy of germination and seedling vigor index significantly affected by the interaction between cultivars and salinity concentrations. Final germination percentage, germination rate, germination index, energy of germination and seedling vigour index significantly affected by the interaction between seed priming and salinity concentrations. Moreover, final germination percentage, germination rate, germination index, energy of germination and seedling vigour index significantly affected by the interaction among seed priming, cultivars and salinity concentrations. It could be concluded that priming Giza 90 or Giza 86 cultivars were more tolerant to salinity stress, which must be put in breeding program of cotton for enhancing of cotton productivity under salinity conditions.