Improvement of Wheat and Barley Cultivation Through Seed Priming with UV, Ozone, and Nutripriming (Fe, Zn, and B)

In the context of exponential global population growth, climate change, and increasingly stringent regulations limiting the use of agrochemical inputs, it is essential to explore sustainable alternatives that can enhance crop productivity. This study contributes to the search for innovative solutions to address these challenges by evaluating more efficient and environmentally friendly agricultural practices. Among such alternatives, seed priming has emerged as a promising and cost-effective technique to improve crop performance. In this work, the responses of wheat and barley seeds to treatments involving low-dose ultraviolet (UV) radiation, ozone, and nutripriming—a technique based on soaking seeds in nutrient solutions containing boron (B), iron (Fe), and/or zinc (Zn), were evaluated. All treatments were initially assessed under in vitro conditions using a Petri dish assay, followed by a tray cell experiment to evaluate their impact on various seedling biometric parameters. For nutripriming, an additional experiment was conducted under deficit irrigation to examine its effectiveness under water stress. A field trial was subsequently performed to evaluate the transferability of the results to real-world conditions. Seed priming with UV and ozone significantly enhanced root development in the in vitro assay for both crops, but these effects were not consistently observed in the tray experiment. In the field trial, the UV treatment increased thousand grain weight (TGW) in wheat, although no improvements in final yield were detected. Nutripriming treatments produced positive effects in both the Petri dish and tray experiments. Individual nutrient treatments mitigated early water stress in wheat and enhanced root development in barley. Combined nutrient treatments generally showed no significant effects, with the exception of the Zn+B combination, which improved shoot development in barley. Although no statistically significant differences were observed in the field trial, positive trends were identified, supporting the need for further research under diverse field conditions.