Effect of Priming on Germination and Enzyme Activity of Achillea vermicularis Seeds after Naturally and Accelerated Aging

Abstract

<span>Ageing induces seed deterioration expressed as the loss of seed vigor and/or viability. Priming treatment, which consists in soaking of seeds in a solution of low water potential, has been shown to reinvigorate aged seeds. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of naturally and accelerated aging on seed germination </span><span>traits<span> and enzyme activities (proxidase, catalase and </span>superoxid dismutase)<span> in three </span></span><em><span>Achillea vermicularis </span></em><span>accessions. Naturally aged seeds were provided from base (stored 10 or15 years at -18 </span><span><span>°</span></span><span>C) and active (stored 10 or 15 years at 4 </span><span><span>°</span></span><span>C) cold rooms of Natural Resources Gene Bank of Iran. A two years harvested seeds of the accessions were aged under moisture of 100% and temperature of 40 °C for 48 and 72 hours. The seeds were primed by incubation for 24 hours at 15 °C in solution of polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG6000) −0.3 Mpa (as osmo-priming), gibberellic acid 250 and 500 ppm (as hormone-priming). Non-primed seeds were used as control. ANOVA suggested significant different among three accessions of <em>A. vermicularis</em> for all germination traits and enzymes activities. Results showed that responses of different accessions to aging and priming treatments were significantly different. The data demonstrated that catalase is a key enzyme for seed repair against ageing ROS-induced damage during priming treatment.</span>