Concluding remarks: Many previous investigations have demonstrated
declining nutrient supply to sensitive plant species exposed
to low RZT during germination and early growth. However, this
is the first report showing that micronutrient (Fe, Zn, Mn) supply
acts as a specific growth limiting factor under these conditions,
which can be supplemented by micronutrient seed priming with
long-lasting effects even until final harvest. The physiological background
of these effects as well as their expression under different
environmental conditions (e.g. soil type, soil-water and redox status,
fertilization management, variation in priming treatments and
genotypes, etc.) need to be further elucidated. Nevertheless, the
present study demonstrates that micronutrient seed priming may
offer a realistic perspective to mitigate problems of plant performance
under low RZT. The seed priming technique is simple,
inexpensive and can be conducted directly prior to sowing, e.g.
by small-scale farmers but allows also combinations with industrial
seed dressing techniques due to persistence of the effects after
drying-back the primed seeds.