Effect of Seed Priming with Methyl Jasmonate and Salinity of Irrigation Water on the Emergence and Activity of Sunflower Seedlings

Abstract

Abstract The experiment was conducted in the field in the autumn season of 2023, in the fields of the College of Agriculture, Anbar University. To study the effect of methyl jasmonate concentrations and salinity of irrigation water on the germination characteristics of sunflower. The experiment was implemented using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with factorial arrangement (two factors) and three replications. The experiment included two factors: the first factor consisted of three concentrations of methyl jasmonate (1, 2, 3 mM (mM)), and the second factor consisted of three concentrations of saline irrigation water (4, 6, 8 dS.m-1). The concentration of 1 (mM) exhibited superiority in the traits of initial germination percentage, final germination percentage, plumule length, radicale length, and fresh weight, achieving the highest averages in these traits at 61.7 %, 80.83 %, 9.54 cm, 6.16 cm, 3.26 g respectively. Conversely, the control treatment recorded the lowest rates at 32.5%, 69.17%, 6.15 cm, 2.93 cm, 0.99 g respectively. Regarding salinity levels, the concentration of 4 (dS.m-1) recorded the highest average in initial germination percentage, final germination percentage, plumule length, radicale length, and fresh and dry weights of seedlings at (45 %, 79.17 %, 10.27 cm, 5.43 cm, 3.24 g % respectively. In contrast, the 8 dS.m-1 salinity level recorded the lowest average at 29.2 %, 65%, 4.12 cm, 2.41cm, 0.76 g respectively.