Increasing Salt Tolerance in Tall Fescue (Festuca Arundinacea Schreb) by Seed Priming Techniques During Germination and Early Growth

This experiment was carried out at the Seed Technology Laboratory, located in faculty of Natural resource at university of Tarbiat Modares, Iran. The impact of pre-sowing treatments (non-priming, NaCl priming at 15 and 30 dS m^”1 for 24 h and hydro priming for 24 h) on germination percentage, mean germination time, root length, shoot length and vigor index of Tall fescue seeds were evaluated under five levels of NaCl solutions (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 dS/m). All investigate traits were affected by salt stress. Seed priming treatments showed enhanced performance under salinity conditions. Mean germination time was shortened by seed priming, but stress conditions delayed it considerably. Seed priming treatments increased germination percentage of seeds compared to non-priming at higher salinity levels (15 and 20 dS m⁻¹). Root length, shoot length and vigor index in primed seed were higher than to non-primed seeds. Results of this study indicated that seed priming especially with NaCl could be suitable seed treatments for improving seed germination and early growth of tall fescue under salt stress conditions.