Seed priming improves the performance of poor quality wheat seed

Late sowing of wheat experiences terminal heat stress which affects the grain development process and the harvested grains are of poor quality if used as seed for next crop. This study investigated the role of sowing time and seed priming on seed vigor and crop performance in wheat. Seed harvested from the crop sown on November 10, 25, December 10 and 25 were primed with CaCl2 for 12 h, or not. The primed and non-primed seeds were sown under field conditions for two consecutive years. Seed harvested from late sown crop (December 10 and 25) caused poor stand establishment. However, seed priming improved stand establishment, allometric traits, yield contributing parameters, biological yield, grain yield and harvest index. Although, the grain yield was higher in seeds harvested from November 10 planted crop owing to more number of productive tillers per unit area, spike length, number of grains per spike, 1000-grain weight; seed priming also improved the grain yield of seeds harvested from late sown crop (December 10 and 25). These results suggest that seed priming can improve the field performance of poor quality wheat seeds.