Evaluation of Gibberellic Acid Pretreatment in the Alleviation of Salinity-induced Stress in Buckwheat Seeds

This study investigated the effects of salinity stress on buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) seed germination and the contribution of different gibberellic acid (GA₃) doses to mitigate this stress. Salinity is one of the major abiotic stress factors that negatively affect crop yield and quality worldwide. Improved seed germination has been achieved through various seed pre-treatment methods. Gibberellic acid is an important plant growth regulator that plays a role in the growth and development processes of many plant species. This research was conducted on the var. Aktas of buckwheat treated with three doses of (0, 5, 10, 20 dS m-1) of NaCl and post-treated with three different GA₃ doses (0, 100, 200 mg L-1). The study analyzed mean germination time, germination percentage, shoot and root length, fresh and dry weight data of the buckwheat seeds. The results revealed significant differences among salinity levels and alleviating effects of gibberellic acid post treatments on NaCl pretreated seedlings. It was observed that seed post-treatment with gibberellic acid positively affected germination parameters at increasing salt concentrations. The best results were observed in seedlings treated with 200 mg L-1 gibberellic acid on non-salt treated seeds under controlled conditions (0 dS m⁻¹, control).These findings suggest that gibberellic acid treatments have a potential to enhance buckwheat germination under salinity stress and could be used commercially.