Effects of different seed priming techniques on germination and seedling growth and emergence
have been well documented. Ghassemi-Golezani etal (2010) evaluate the effect of different osmopriming
treatments (KNO3 and NaCl) on seed invigoration and field performance of winter rapeseed cultivars and
concluded that Salt priming, particularly KNO33 priming, decreased mean germination time and increased
seedling size, compared with non-primed seeds. They also reported that the highest improvement in grain
yield per unit area was observed for seeds primed with KNO3 (31.5%) followed by those primed with NaCl
(22.5%). Different seed priming methods may have different effects on seed and seedling performance.
Ghassemi-Golezani et al (2008b) compared seed germination properties of lentil under two seed priming
techniques (osmo and hydropriming). They observed that seed priming improved germination and field
performance of lentil compared with unprimed treatment, but the effect of different priming was also
significant, where invigoration of lentil seeds by hydropriming resulted in higher seedling emergence in the
field, compared to control and seed priming with PEG. Seedling emergence rate was also enhanced by
priming seed with water. Thus, they suggested hydropriming as a simple and effective method for improving
seed germination and seedling emergence of lentil in the field.