The impact of seed priming on grain yield and yield components of borage

Seed priming is a technology that positively influence germination and seedling establishment in many crops and may improve field performance under adverse environmental conditions. Therefore, in this research the effects of seed priming methods (P1: unprimed, P2: hydro-priming, P3: priming with 1% KNO3, and P4: priming with 1% KH2PO4 for 8 h at 15±1ºC) on yield and yield components of borage were investigated. A field experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted at the Research Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Iran. Results indicated that percentage of seedling emergence from primed seeds with water, KNO3 and KH2PO4 was higher than that of control, leading to the production of more grains per plant and per unit area and 154.1, 114.8 and 127.8% improvement in grain yield, respectively. Therefore, seed priming techniques could be used to improve stand establishment and yield of borage in the field.

Keywords:

Borage , Grain , Seed priming , Yield