Effects of Salinity on Seed Germination and Early Seedling Stage

Abstract

Salinity is the major environmental stress source that restricts on agricultural productivity and sustainability in arid and semiarid regions by a reduction in the germination rate and a delay in the initiation of germination and subsequent seedling establishment. Salt negatively effects the crop production worldwide. Because most of the cultivated plants are salt-sensitive glycophytes. Salt stress affects the seed germination and seedling establishment through osmotic stress, ion toxicity, and oxidative stress. Salinity may adversely influence seed germination by decreasing the amounts of seed germination stimulants such as GAs, enhancing ABA amounts, and altering membrane permeability and water behavior in the seed. Rapid seed germination and subsequent seedling establishment are important factors affecting crop production under salinity conditions. Seed priming is one of the useful physiological approaches for adaptation of glycophyte species to saline conditions during germination and subsequent seedling establishment. In seed priming, seeds are exposed to an eliciting solution for a certain period that allows partial hydration without radicle protrusion. Seed priming is a simple, low cost, and powerful biotechnological tool used to overcome the salinity problem in agricultural lands.