Impact of Seed Priming on Germination and Seedling Vigor in Coreopsis tinctoria and Callistephus chinensis

Seed priming techniques are adopted for the enhancement of seed germination and seedling vigour. Among the different seed priming techniques adopted in the study, seed priming using humic acid and with Pseudomonas fluorescence showed better results in Coreopsis. For China aster (Callistephus chinensis), Pseudomonas demonstrated superior results. Least performance was observed in fortified vegetable boosters in shoot and root length (Coreopsis) and fresh and dry weight of both shoot and root (Coreopsis & China aster). From the results, it was concluded that seed priming with Pseudomonas 10g/litre is very effective in enhancing seed germination. The superior performance of the Pseudomonas treatment may be attributed to its ability to enhance nitrogen fixation and phosphate solubilization. Studies revealed that P. .uorescens is capable of increasing nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization and production of growth promoting substances, thus increasing the dry matter production of the seedlings.