Seed priming with zinc improves the germination and early seedling growth of wheat

Zinc (Zn) deficiency is an important micronutrient disorder in wheat resulting in poor crop stand and productivity. Two experiments were conducted, one in Petri plates and one in sand-filled pots, to study the effect of various Zn seed priming treatments on stand establishment and seedling growth of two bread wheat cultivars. Seeds were primed in 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 M solutions of ZnS04 and ZnCl2 for 12 hours; dry seeds and hydropriming (HP) were controls. In the experiment conducted in Petri plates, HP enhanced seed performance, but priming with Zn increased the rate of germination (reduced mean germination time), final germination and seedling size of both cultivars even further; priming with 0.5 M ZnS04 and 0.1 M ZnCl2 resulted in the best improvements. In the experiment with sand-filled pots, seed priming with 0.5 M ZnS04 and 0.1 M ZnCl2 were better than other treatments in improving stand establishment and seedling growth in both cultivars. Increasing Zn solution concentration beyond 0.1 M ZnCl2 and 0.5 M ZnS04 was toxic. Wheat seeds may be primed with 0.5 M ZnS04 to improve its stand establishment and early seedling growth.