I felt glad to see so much positive response to our Agronomy Project Work where we will be dealing with the effect of seed priming on germination characteristics of maize in drought condition. I have stated problem statement, rationale of study and methodology of our research along with the photo of the research.

Problem Statement

Being drought sensitive crop, maize is affected at each and every stage of growth and development by lesser moisture availability. Drought stress during the imbibition phase of germination is the primary reason for both inhibition or delayed seed germination and seedling establishment. The detrimental drought effects lose in yield and quality; and the death of plan. The germination and establishment of seedlings to drought stress is very sensitive, in such a huge extent that drought stress decreases seed germination and seedling have a non-uniform establishment (Soltani et al., 2007). Drought stress is seriously affecting the maize crop resultantly hindering the productivity. Insufficient seed germination and inappropriate seedling establishment has been a very troublesome factor for the cultivation of maize in the rainfed areas. Maize grain size is greater than other cereals so water requirement is greater for maintenance of osmotic potential and conversion of stored food into consumable form for proper germination. Water absorption, imbibition and metabolic enzymatic activation are hindered under limited water availability which reduces the maize grain germination. After germination, water deficiency significantly reduced the plumule and radicle growth which resulted in unusual seedling growth (Aslam, 2015). 

Rationale of Study                                                                                                            

Various seed enhancing technique are widely used to overcome such deleterious effect of drought stress with the main aim of increasing the germination of seed. Priming is one of the most important physiological method which boosts up the germination process of seed right up to the radicle emergence stage ensuring the germination of the seed (Harris et al., 1999). Seed priming is a technique that allows water uptake by the seed before planting to control the level of the activity is the initial buds initiated germination that prevents of out roots, until the seeds of dry maintainability are able to grow.  Rapid germination of seed and emergence of seedling is pre-requisite for the good corn production under adverse environmental stresses like salinity, drought soil and high and low temperature. It has been reported that seed priming in osmoticum such as mannitol, polyethylene glycol (PEG), and Sodium chloride increases the yield of chickpea, maize and wheat under semiarid condition because of the rapid seed germination and seedling emergence. Also priming of seed improves speeds, synchrony and percentage of seed germination. Numerous biochemical changes have been reported in osmo-primed seed of different crops like a space is developed in osmoprimed seed of tomato that facilitates water uptake, thereby accelerating the speed of germination. And also, the embryo expands considerably and compresses the endosperm, deforming the tissues that have lost flexibility due to hydration It also has been shown to induce nuclear DNA synthesis in the radical tip cells in tomato and several other plant species, including corn (Zea mays)and leek (Aslam, 2015).

Measurement of germination and physiological characteristics of seedlings

After priming, seed germination tests will be carried out. Twenty five seeds each for each treatment will be placed in Petri dishes. Artificial drought condition will be created by using different concentration of salt solutions viz. 1.5 bar, 4.9 bar, 10.3 bar, 17.6 bar and a treatment with tap water is taken as control.

Finally we will get 75 plots (Petri dishes) [i.e., 5 treatments of priming* 5 treatments of drought condition* 3 replications].

Then, seeds will be incubated in a germination chamber at 24°C for 7 days, with regular supervision. Seeds will be considered germinated when there was a visible coleoptile protrusion of more than 5mm in length through the seed coat. The germinated seeds will be counted daily for 7 days. On the seventh day 10 samples from each petridish will be taken and root length and shoot height of the sample seeds will be measured manually with a ruler and fresh weight of the seeds along with the shoot and root will be measured. Then the petridishes with the maize seedlings will be filled with water and kept for 12 hours.

After 12 hours the turgid weight of the seeds along with the shoot and root will be measured by removing the extra water of the dish with the help of tissue paper. Then the seedlings will be wrapped in the envelope and kept in hot air oven. The dry weights of shoot and root will be determined after drying at 105 degree Celsius for 24 hours.  

All data will be analyzed by means of analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Statistical Analysis System.