Meta-analysis of seed priming effects on seed germination, seedling emergence and crop yield: Iranian studies

Abstract

<span>A large body of research has documented the effect of seed priming on<br /><span>germination, emergence and crop yield. In such research, seed priming has been<br /><span>found to have a positive, negative or no effect. Meta-analysis can help to<br /><span>summarize and interpret a collection of experiments. The aim of this study was to<br /><span>conduct a meta-analysis to synthesize published data from studies addressing the<br /><span>effect of seed priming in Iran. Our results indicated that seed priming profoundly<br /><span>influences germination (rate or percentage), seedling emergence (rate or<br /><span>percentage) and crop yield. Among the studied traits, the crop yield increased the<br /><span>most (+28%), followed by the seedling emergence percentage (+19%), the<br /><span>germination rate (+17%), the seedling emergence rate (+15%) and the germination<br /><span>percentage (+4%). In general, hormonal priming was the best seed priming<br /><span>treatment. This was followed by hydropriming and osmopriming. The best priming<br /><span>durations were 12-24 h for the germination percentage (+14%), longer than 24 h<br /><span>for the germination rate (+16%), shorter than 24 h for the seedling emergence rate<br /><span>(+10 to + 14%) and the percentage (about +11%) and shorter than 12 h for the crop<br /><span>yield (+26%). Seed priming significantly increased in all of the traits of eudicots<br /><span>and monocots, except for the germination percentage in monocots. The differences<br /><span>were significant between the monocot and eudicot species in the germination stage.<br /><span>The differences became insignificant in the seedling emergence and crop yield.<br /><span>Finally, it was concluded that hydropriming is a practical treatment. This is due to<br /><span>its low cost and beneficial effects. We additionally concluded that durations shorter<br /><span>than 12 h are the most effective for this priming.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></span>