Iranian Journal of Seed Research

In order to study drought stress effect at the reproductive stage on seed germination characteristics of seven rice genotypes, an experiment was carried out at Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University in 2014. This study was conducted on drought-stressed seeds and seeds grown under normal conditions. The results of orthogonal mean comparison among non-stressed seeds showed that local genotypes had a lower germination index, germination rate, water percentage of seedling tissue, shoot length and root dry weight than the improved genotypes. Among stressed seeds, however, local genotypes had a higher germination index and germination rates than those of improved genotypes. Comparison of non-stressed seeds of susceptible and tolerant genotypes indicated that susceptible genotypes had a higher germination index, germination rate and germination percentage than tolerant genotypes. On the other hand, the comparison of the stressed seeds of susceptible and tolerant genotypes revealed that drought stress increased the time to 10, 50, 90 and 95% germination, water percentage of seedling tissue and plantlet length in susceptible genotypes, which were higher than those of tolerant genotypes. In conclusion, it seems that drought stress at reproductive stage has a significant effect on germination characteristics of the plant’s following generation. However, their responses are different, depending on the level tolerance of the genotype to stress and genetic origin.

Highlights: 
1-  Drought stress at reproductive stage has a significant effect on germination characteristics of the following generation of the rice plant.
2-  Among stressed seeds, local genotypes have a higher germination index and germination rates than those of the improved genotypes.
3-  Drought stress increases the time of germination in susceptible genotypes, which is higher than that in the tolerant genotypes.

Extended Abstract
Introduction: Water deficit stress is one of the important factors affecting seed germination. This stress decrease germination rate and affects germination percentage under high levels as well. Seed priming improves germination by changing metabolic activities before radicle emergence. This investigation was conducted to evaluate the effect of seed priming by salicylic acid on the emergence index and grain weight of spring wheat under water deficit stress.
 Material and Method: These experiments were conducted as factorial based on the completely randomized design with three replicates in the greenhouse of the Faculty of the Agriculture Sciences University of Mohaghegh Ardabili. Experiment treatments included different salicylic acid concentrations (0, 1, 2 mM) and water deficit stresses (25%, 45%, 65% and 85% Field capacity).
Result: According to results, emergence index (emergence percentage and emergence rate, uniformity emergence, and times to 10, 50, and 90% emergence) was influenced at 1% by water deficit stress. The effect of salicylic acid was significant on the emergence index. The interactions of water deficit stress and salicylic acid were effective at 1% on emergence uniformity and time to 90% emergence. Changes in plant height and heading rate were lower under water deficit stress. Also, both slope (b) and maximum content (a) decreased by water stress (22% and 7%). Priming by salicylic acid at 2 mM had the highest effect on both traits and resulted in a decrease in their slopes (17% and 13%) and an increase in their maximum content (34 and 10%). Plant dry weight was influenced by the interactions of water deficit stress and salicylic acid at 5% level. The plant's final height and grain weight was influenced by water deficit stress and salicylic acid. The highest grain weight was obtained at 80% and 60% field capacity with means of 0.79 and 0.75 g, which had no significant differences with eachother. The heights grain weight (0.72 g) was obtained by application of  2 mM salicylic acid which led to an increase of 250% compared to control.
Conclusions: Overall, we showed that water deficit stress resulted in decreased emergence rate and emergence percentage of wheat and finally declined plant growth and grain weight. Application of salicylic acid in seed priming resulted in improvement in the emergence index, growth, and grain weight of wheat. Also, the highest grain weight was observed at 2 mM concentration and it can be considered as the enhancing treatment.

Highlights:
1- Response of plant growth stage to stress was quantified using nonlinear regression
2- Relationship between emergence and grain weight was investigated under stress and priming by salicylic acid.