Improving the performance of wheat by seed priming under saline conditions

Salinity is one of a major threat in harvesting good wheat stand on sustained basis. In this study, potential of seed priming techniques to improve the performance of wheat varieties (SARC-1 and MH-97) in a saline field was tested. For priming, wheat seeds were soaked in aerated solution of ascorbate (50mgl ^-1; ascorbate priming), salicylic acid (50mgl ^-1; salicylicate priming), kinetin (50mgl ^-1; kinetin priming) and CaCl ₂ (50mgl ^-1; osmopriming) for 12h. For comparison, seeds were also soaked in simple water (hydropriming); in addition, untreated seeds were also taken as control. Seed priming treatments substantially improved the stand establishment; osmopriming (with CaCl ₂) was at the top however. Likewise maximum fertile tillers, grains per spike, 1000-grain weight, grain yield and harvest index were observed in plants raised from seeds osmoprimed (with CaCl ₂) followed by ascorbate priming in both the varieties tested. As an index of salinity tolerance, seed priming treatments also improved the leaf K ⁺ contents with simultaneous decrease in Na ⁺ concentration, osmopriming being the best treatment. Similarly, maximum total phenolic contents, total soluble proteins (TSP), α-amylase and protease activities were observed in osmoprimed (with CaCl ₂) seeds followed by ascorbate priming. Economic analysis also indicated that osmopriming is more viable with maximum net return and benefit-to-cost ratio. In conclusion, different seed priming treatments in wheat seeds improved the salinity tolerance nonetheless osmopriming (with CaCl ₂) was the most effective treatments to get higher grain yield and net return in both wheat varieties whereas kinetin was the least effective.