The percentage and rate of germination and proper establishment of seedlings are important factors contributing to higher yield per unit area. As an essential element for plant growth and development, Zinc plays a critical role in many metabolic processes, and also has a positive effect on seed germination. The effects of seed priming with concentrations of 0.5, 1 and 2 percent zinc sulfate on the partitioning of reserved materials in seed, the start of autotrophic seedling growth and the activity of alpha-amylase enzyme were investigated in wheat seeds, using a factorial experiment in the Research Farm of the University of Maragheh, Iran in 2014 on the basis of a completely randomized design with four replications. The results showed that zinc priming had a significant effect on all the parameters under investigation. Mean comparisons showed that an increase in zinc concentration- up to one percent- had a positive effect on the parameters investigated and increasing its concentration more than one percent caused a negative effect on the parameters touched upon above. The results of this study showed that the dry seed weight of the control and zinc sulfate (0.5%) treatment reached a stable level on day 21 and 20, respectively. In addition, in the control and 0.5% zinc sulfate, the total dry weight reached its initial weight (seed weight) on day 15 and 13, respectively. In addition, the growth of autotrophic plant began 10-12 days after soaking. The seeds treated with 5.0 and 1 percent zinc sulfate had more leaf area than the other treatments; this could be due to the earlier entrance of the seedlings produced by 5.0 and 1% zinc sulfate treatments into the autotrophic stage, as compared with other treatments. The results of variance analysis of the finishing seeds' reserved materials, initial kernel, root dry weight and shoot dry weight confirmed that 0.5 and 1% zinc sulfate treatments were better than other concentrations. The treatments of 0.5 and 1% of zinc sulfate reached the autotrophic stage sooner than the control and 2% zinc sulfate treatment. Given the results of this study, 5.0 and 1% zinc sulfate treatments were selected for field cultivation.
