The effect of seed priming with salicylic acid on the germination of two sorghum varieties

A laboratory experiment was conducted at the Center of Desert Studies- University of Anbar, to investigate the effect of seed priming with salicylic acid. Five levels (0, 45, 90, 180, 360 mg L-1) of salicylic acid were applied to two plant varieties of sorghum (Tabat, Rabeh). The experiment was carried out according to the Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with four replications. The first factor represents the two sorghum varieties, while the second factor represents the seed activation treatments. The results varied: the Rabeh variety surpassed each of the germination percentages (53.55%), root length (4.075 cm), shoot length (4.676 cm), seedling vigor (506.4), dry weight of the seedling (0.022 g), and seedling vigor index (1.250). As for the concentration of salicylic acid, the S2 concentration recorded the highest mean values for all germination parameters, root length, shoot length, dry weight of the seedling vigor, which reached 77.63%, 5.413 cm, 6.088 cm, 0.028 g, 913,9 and 2.187, respectively. It was noted that the high concentrations of salicylic acid showed a negative effect on the studied traits. As for the interaction between the factors, no significant effects appeared in most of the traits, indicating the independence of the effect of each factor individually. It can be concluded that the activation of seeds by salicylic acid can improve performance, but the appropriate concentration plays a decisive role in this process.