Seed Priming on Germination, Growth and Flowering in Flowers and Ornamental Trees

Seed dormancy is an emerging problem related to germination which is common in many species of ornamental trees and flowers. Poor seed germination and subsequently poor field establishment are a common phenomenon at adverse conditions of environment. The most important problems faced are the heterogneity and lack of suitable conditions in soil that causes decrease in germination percent. Priming is a water-based technique that consents metabolic processes necessary for enhancing germination rate and seed quality by managing the temperature and seed moisture content in which the seed is taken through the first biochemical processes within the initial stages of germination but preventing the seed transition towards full germination. This is a successful way through which plants would be able to complete their growth on or before the stresses arrive (Subedi KD, Ma BL. Agron J 97(1):211–218, 2005). Seed priming technique has been practised in many countries including India, Pakistan, China and Australia, and more than thousand trials had been conducted to evaluate the performance of priming in a variety of crops. The principle of seed priming is to minimise the period of emergence and to protect seed from environmental stresses during critical phase of seedling establishment to synchronise emergence which lead to uniform establishment and improved yield. It reduces the effect of salinity on the morphological parameter of the plants. Various priming techniques, like osmopriming, biopriming, halopriming, thermopriming, hydropriming, hormonal priming and solid matrix priming, give favourable result in seeds of ornamental flowers as well as trees. This technique has been successfully carried out in flower crops like balsam, coneflower, cosmos, gladiolus, pansy, marigold, periwinkle, rudbeckia, salvia, snapdragon and zinnia and trees like cassia, cypress, senegal, eucalyptus, fig, teak, pine, almond, tamarind, oak, karanj, khejri, siris, subabul, kapok, gulmohar, kachnar, etc.