Muskmelon seed priming in relation to seed vigor

Abstract

A number of important factors may affect seed priming response, including seed quality. Effects of seed vigor on seed priming response were investigated using seed lots of two muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) cultivars. Seeds of muskmelon, cvs. Mission and Top Net SR were artificially aged at 43°C for 0, 20 and 40 hours. Seeds were primed for six days in darkness at 25°C in KNO3 (0.35 mol L-1) aerated solution. Aged seeds germinated poorly at 17°C. Priming increased germination rate at 17 and 25°C and germination percentage at 17°C. An interaction effect on germination performance between vigor and priming was observed, especially at low temperature. Priming increased germination performance in seeds of low vigor, and the response was cultivar dependent.

Effect of Seed Priming on Biochemical Changes in Fresh and Aged Seeds of Cucumber

“…Osmopriming involves soaking seeds in aerated water potential of different osmotica (Polyethylene glycol, mannitol, sorbitol, glycerol, etc.,) to control the amount of water imbibed by seeds. Chemo priming is soaking seeds in various inorganic salt solutions like KCl, KNO 3 , CaCl 2 , KH 2 PO 4 , etc.. the results for germination percentage confirmed the findings of Warley and Fernando (2004) who reported that priming improved the germination percentage and germination rate of un-aged and aged seeds of muskmelon.…”

Is the enhancement produced by priming in cottonseeds maintained during storage?

“…In other species such as asparagus, chickpeas and carrots, also osmopriming (PEG) was more effective than hydropriming in increasing vigor expressed as percentage of germination at first count (Bittencourt et al, 2005;Choudhary et al, 2008). Nascimento and West (2000) observed a decrease of vigor in melon seeds osmoprimed in KNO 3 after a storage period of 12 months. These researchers attributed this negative effect on vigor to the drying at high temperatures and of short duration, conditions different from the ones used in this study, which probably explain why in this case vigor was not affected by storage.…”

“…In cauliflower seeds submitted to controlled deterioration, effects of hydropriming and osmopriming in PEG, were compared showing that these treatments were less effective in aged seeds (Fujikura et al, 1993). On the contrary, in melon seeds artificially aged by different periods of time, the effect of osmopriming in KNO 3 was greater in more deteriorated seeds (Nascimento and Souza de Aragão, 2004). It has been suggested that the processes conducive to seed deterioration are related to the type of aging produced, natural or accelerated, and that priming could include some repair mechanisms (McDonald, 1999).…”

“…In this sense, there exist variable responses depending on the species, variety, age of the seeds and storage conditions (Dorna et al, 2013;Parera and Cantliffe, 1994). In melon, the positive effect of priming was maintained after a period of storage (Singh et al, 2001) while other species have shown a negative relation between priming and storage, with loss of longevity, germination or vigor (Drew et al, 1997;Nascimento and West, 2000).…”

“…In melon, priming in healthy and high quality seeds is recommended (Nascimento, 2002). Nevertheless, in other cases, better responses were found in lots of seeds of low quality (Bittencourt et al, 2005;Choudhary et al, 2008;McDonald, 1999;Nascimento and Souza de Aragão, 2004).…”