Sorghum seedlings establishment from primed seeds with different physiological qualities

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the effect of seed priming on the emergence and early growth of sorghum seedlings, cv. IPA 1011, with different physiological qualities. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design, with four replications and a 2 x 2 factorial scheme, consisting of four treatments: 1. aged seeds; 2. non-aged seeds; 3. primed aged seeds; and 4. primed non-aged seeds. To evaluate the establishment of the seedlings in the plot, the initial (IS) and final (ES) stands, the emergence speed index (ESI) and mean time (EMT), the root (RDM), shoot (SDM) and total (TDM) dry matter and the SDM/RDM ratio were analyzed. The primed seeds from the non-aged group showed higher values for the variables IS, ES, SDM and TDM, reflecting the beneficial effect of priming on the establishment of seedlings from high quality seeds. Priming high quality seeds increases the emergence percentage and dry matter production of seedlings.