Seed priming has been shown to improve seed
performance under sub-optimal temperature conditions
(Lin and Sung, 2001). Priming increases the
environmental range suitable for germination, and
provides faster and synchronous seedling emergence
(McDonald, 1999). Common priming methods such
as polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatment are not suitable
for large scale cereal crop production because
farmers in developing countries could not cover the
costs. PEG priming is frequently applied to vegetable
seeds in laboratory and field experiments. Other
priming methods such as drum priming need special
equipment, and some methods are not easy to operate
or not cheap enough to be used in large scale