Journal of Environmental and Agricultural Sciences (JEAS). Nasir et al., 2019. Volume 21: 14-22
Open Access – Research Article
Seed Priming to Alleviate Drought Stress in Cotton
Muhammad Waqar Nasir 1,2,*, Azra Yasmeen 2, Muhammad Imran 2, Tóth Zoltan 1
1 Festetics Doctoral School, Department of Crop Production, Georgikon Faculty, University of Pannonia, Keszthely, Hungary
2Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan
Abstract: Water scarcity being a major issue threatens the exposure of crops to drought stress. Cotton is one of the most important cash crops and its yield is also affected by water shortage. Therefore, a pot trial was established to study the effect of various priming agents to mitigate drought stress in cotton. Two water levels i.e. 100% field capacity (control) and 70% field capacity (drought stress) were maintained. Sowing materials (seeds) were primed with water, benzyl amino purine (BAP), moringa leaf extract (MLE), calcium chloride (CaCl2) and their performance was compared with non primed seeds (control). Bi factorial randomized complete block design was used. Data regarding emergence index, mean germination time, number of bolls per plant, boll weight per plant, lint weight, seed weight, plant height and ginning out turn was obtained and analyzed statistically. The results revealed that all parameters under observation were significantly higher in well watered pots than in water stressed pots. All priming agents produced better results than control, however, BAP priming proved to be the most promising. Under drought condition; highest emergence index (0.85) was computed for MLE primed seeds. CaCl2 primed seeds took least time to germinate (MGT) (13 days). Maximum no. of bolls per plant under control (8.50) and drought condition (4), highest bolls weight per plant under control (22.1 g), lint weight (9.56 g) and seed weight (11.21 g) were observed for BAP priming. On the basis of results it can be concluded that seed priming can be used to get better yield results under water shortage; particularly use of BAP priming is recommended to obtain better growth and yield under drought conditions.
Keywords: Priming agents, Moringa leaf extract, benzyl amino purine, calcium chloride, tolerance, water stress
*Corresponding author: Muhammad Waqar Nasir: nasir.muhammad.waqar@2018.georgikon.hu
Cite this article as:
Nasir, M.W., A. Yasmeen, M. Imran and T. Zoltan. 2019. Seed priming to alleviate drought stress in cotton. Journal of Environmental& Agricultural Sciences. 21:14-22.
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Copyright © Nasir et al., 2019. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original author and source are appropriately cited and credited.
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