Effect of Hydropriming and Biopriming on Seed Germination and Growth of Two Mexican Fir Tree Species in Danger of Extinction

Abstract

Abies spp. in general have been shown to need a period of cold stratification to break dormancy and germinate, but this can be very time consuming. In this study, hydropriming by itself and in combination with biopriming was carried out on Abies hickelii and Abies religiosa seeds. For biopriming, three species of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria ( Pseudomonas fluorescens, P. putida and Bacillus subtilis) were tested. The purpose was to determine if germination and growth could be improved for these two endangered species. Our results demonstrated that treating A. hickelii and A. religiosa with both hydropriming and biopriming with certain strains of Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) could improve germination rates up to 91% for A. hickelii and up to 68% for A. religiosa. Importantly, these treatments showed no significant negative impact on the growth of A. religiosa and actually improved growth in A. hickelii. The application of OPEN ACCESSForests 2015, 6 3110 both hydropriming and biopriming offer possibly an alternative methodology to improve germination, survival and preservation of these fir tree species of Mexico that are at risk of extinction.

A newly discovered ageing-repair bacterium,Pseudomonas geniculata, isolated from rescuegrass (Bromus cartharticusVahl) promotes the germination and seedling growth of aged seeds

“…Previous studies reported that combination of PGPR with D r a f t various seed priming approaches including hydropriming, osmopriming or redox priming resulted in better plant performance. But the bacterial cell density and seed priming durations had wide ranges from 10 6 -10 9 CFU/mL and 8-24 h (Carrozzi et al 2012;Zulueta-Rodríguez et al 2015;Jafariyan and Zarea 2016) maybe because of different plant species or seed characteristics (Liu et al 2016). In the present study, an optimal seed priming reagent, a more precise bacterial cell density and seed priming time were obtained, which is crucial for practical application of the co-treatment.…”

Identification of Root-Associated Bacteria That Influence Plant Physiology, Increase Seed Germination, or Promote Growth of the Christmas Tree Species Abies nordmanniana

“…The natural slow growth of A. nordmanniana represents a challenge to the growers as the trees only reach their harvesting stage after 10-13 years (Nielsen et al, 2011). Furthermore, it has been shown that seeds of many Abies species require a long period of cold stratification to break dormancy and enable germination (Zulueta- Rodríguez et al, 2015), and that a correct root and seedling development is essential for survival and establishment of Christmas trees after the nursery stage (Seifert, 2015). To overcome the slow growth of A. nordmanniana, commercial chemical plant growth regulators have been applied (Rasmussen et al, 2009;Nielsen et al, 2011), but are being out-phased due to concerns about their impact on human health and the environment (Sørensen and Danielsen, 2006).…”

The Effects of Hydro Priming Intervals on the Germination and Yield of Kidney Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in the Humid Forest Zone of Cameroon

“…Seed priming which is an act of allowing the seed to be hydrated followed by dehydration that initiates germination without radicle emergence [15,16], has been used to improve germination, reduce seedling emergence time, improve stand establishment and yield [11,17]. Many seed priming techniques have been established, including hydro-priming (soaking in water), halopriming (soaking in inorganic salt solutions), osmopriming (soaking in solutions of different organic osmotic), thermo-priming (treatment of seeds with low or high temperatures), solid matrix priming (treatment of seed with solid matrices) and bio-priming (hydration using biological compounds) [18,19,20].…”