Rice Seed and Seedling Priming

Earlier emergence and vigorous seedling stand are key indicators of crop performance. Seed priming as cost-effective hydration technique is central to enhance crop vigor to optimize input use in production and affect grain nutritional quality and food security in rice systems. Poor seedling growth and sub-optimal plant density associated with delayed transplanting of nursery seedling of low vigor is one of the major constraints in conventional flooded (CF) and water-saving aerobic (AR) and alternate wetting and drying (AWD) rice systems. Likely, poor and erratic stand restricts the success of direct seeded rice due to less weed competitiveness associated with low seed vigor. Seed hydropriming, osmopriming, and nutrient priming have been successfully employed in conventional transplanted system irrigated as AR or AWD and in direct seed rice systems to achieve healthy seedling stands, rapid crop development, high yields, and grain nutritional quality including input resource use efficiency. This chapter discusses the potential of priming for improving seed and seedling vigor, crop development, yields, grain nutritional quality, and their profitability in rice systems. This will help to reduce the yield gaps associated with crop vigor in actual and potential yields in rice production.