Effect of plant-derived smoke on salinity tolerance of chili pepper seedlings

Over the last two decades, the stimulatory and PGRs-like effects of plant-derived smoke (smoke-water: SW) have been noticed on seed germination rate and seedling development. In this study, SW-priming was investigated as a new method to stimulate seed germination and enhance the seedling vigor of chili peppers under salinity stress conditions. This experiment was conducted at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Engineering of Razi University in 2024. The experimental factors included two levels of salinity stress (control and 80 mM of NaCl) and six levels of chili pepper seed priming (control, hydro-prime, and SW-prime at 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, and 1% concentrations. Results showed that salinity stress reduced SDW (11.29%), RL (51.71%), PL (26.38%), GP (9.16%), AC (34.36%), SLVI (51.24 %), and SWVI (19.12%), compared to the control treatment. SW-priming at a concentration of 0.1% increased SDW (13.88%), RL (42.24%), PL (19.64%), GP (32.76%), SLVI (75.58%), and SWVI (49.68%) compared to the control. SW-priming also caused MGT reduction in control and salinity stress conditions compared to the control. Therefore, SW-priming can potentially reduce the adverse effects of salinity stress at early stages of the chili pepper life cycle.