Priming – innovative development of methodology preparation of seeds for sowing (review)

Abstract

The development of classical methods of soaking and growing seeds to the method of hydropriming and its further improvement based on the introduction of new knowledge and integrated approaches are shown. Priming is a controlled hydration of seeds (saturation with a limited amount of water), which causes the activation of metabolism, the initiation of germination (preventing the appearance of a root) and ensuring the subsequent reversibility of this process (by drying) while maintaining a stimulating effect. P.A. Genkel, who presented a thorough theoretical justification and detailed experimental confirmation of the effectiveness of pre-sowing soaking and subsequent drying (often multiple times) to increase drought and salt tolerance of plants. For a complex of methods for influencing seeds with water and osmotic solutions, W. Heidecker proposed the term priming, which is widely used in the English language, but at first did not take root in Russian literature. The characteristic of the internal reasons for the decrease in the viability of seeds, associated primarily with the aging process, during which the depletion of nutrient reserves, the accumulation of growth inhibitors, mutagens, reactive oxygen species and other harmful substances, the denaturation of proteins and nucleic acids, the oxidation of unsaturated lipids and external (abiotic and biotic), and their interactions. The article provides information about agents and methods, technical solutions and priming techniques. The role of water, conditions, factors, parameters, fundamental morpho-anatomical, physiological and biochemical substantiation of the germination process are described. The shortcomings of priming and ways to overcome them are outlined on the basis of an in-depth study of the metabolic processes occurring in the process of priming and subsequent germination in order to understand the mechanisms for increasing the sowing and productive properties of seeds. The necessity of maximizing the practice of applying priming, especially in difficult environmental conditions, was noted.