Seed priming improved the physiological parameters, growth, and yield of durum wheat varieties under tillering and anthesis drought stress conditions

• Published in: Australian journal of crop science no. 18(03):2024; pp. 178 - 186
• Main Authors: Aldahadha, Abdallah, Alhajaj, Nawal, Shakhatreh, Yahya, Khalaf, Yahya Bani, Samarah, Nezar, Alzoubi, Eyad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 15.03.2024
• ISSN: 1835-2693; 1835-2707
• DOI: 10.21475/ajcs.24.18.03.PNE4098

A pot experiment was carried out to investigate the impact of seed priming on some physiological parameters, growth, and yield components of four durum wheat varieties (Hourani, Umqais, Sham 1, and Maru 1) during both stages of tillering and anthesis drought. Four pre-sowing seed treatments (hydropriming with distilled water, osmopriming with PEG, osmopriming with 1.5% CaCl2, and controls) were applied for 12 hours at 24 ºC. Drought was imposed at both stages by withholding water for 7 days and being compared with well-watered conditions. The experimental design was 4 x 4 x 3 factorial in a completely randomized design with three replicates for each treatment. During anthesis, seed priming significantly improved transpiration rate, total chlorophyll content, and relative water content (RWC) by 29%, 1.7%, and 3.5%, while drought suppressed these physiological parameters by 18.6%, 6.5%, and 12.1%, respectively, when compared with those during tillering. Osmopriming with PEG had significantly 35% higher transpiration rate and 4.9% higher RWC during anthesis stage than hydropriming treatment. Overall, osmopriming with either PEG or CaCl2 significantly improved the growth and yield parameters of wheat when compared with hydropriming. The highest grain yield was significantly improved by 82.7% for var. Sham 1 when seeds were primed with PEG. However, var. Hourani had the highest reduction in grain yield (67.8%) under drought at anthesis stage. In conclusion, seed priming resulted in an increase in grain yield at both stages, with more substantial improvement observed under severe anthesis drought due to the enhanced physiological performance of wheat.