Seed priming with salicylic acid and hydrogen peroxide alleviates water deficit in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) at seedling stage

Present experiment was undertaken during 2013–14 and 2014–15 to evaluate the effectiveness of exogenous application of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and salicylic acid (SA) through seed priming during water deficit on wheat seeds of two contrasting genotypes C-306 (relatively drought resistant) and HD-2329 (relatively drought susceptible). Under PEG- 6000 induced water deficit, significant differences were observed between different treatments in both the genotypes. Priming with water, SA and H₂O₂ improves germination rate and seedling vigour during water deficit with respect to T₂(non-primed) in both the genotypes. Root length, shoot length, root dry weight, shoot dry weight and total dry weight of seedlings were also recorded to be increased significantly with respect to T₂. The treatment T₅ in which SA and H₂O₂were applied in combination, showed maximum value for the observed parameters. HD-2329 was observed to be more responsive to the priming treatments during water deficit, with respect to C-306. It may be concluded that seed priming with SA and H₂O₂ improves tolerance to PEG-6000 induced water deficit and they act synergistically in improving performance of seedlings of wheat.