NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND

HUMAN HEALTH

Seed germination of seven varieties of rice (Oryza Sativa) in the presence of salicylic
acid under salt stress
M, TAFVIZI 1, H, NOURI 2, A, TAVAKOLI 3

M.Sc. Student, Department of soil science engineering, University of Tehran, Iran

M.Sc. Student, Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Iran

M.Sc. Students, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Corresponding Author: Tafvizi.m.s@gmail.com

Abstract
Salicylic acid (SA) is a growth regulator that promotes growth of plants under stress and non-stress
conditions. In order to evaluate seed priming effects with SA treatment on some germination characteristics
in rice varieties were grown under the salinity stress, an experiment was carried in Factorial test with 3
repeats in completely random design in physiology lab of University of Tehran in 2010. Experimental
treatment included three levels of SA priming (0, 600, 1200 mol), two levels of (with and without salinity)
and 7 rice varieties (Gaem, Mazandran, Fajr, Sepid, Neda, Nemat, Sang-e-tarom). The results showed salinity
decreased seed germination percentage, shoot length, radical length, root numbers and level and about 1200
mole of SA decreased percentage of seed germination, radical length, shoot length and root number too.
Interaction effect of salinity stress, varieties and salicylic acid on seed germination was significant at 1%
level. Varieties sang tarom, neda and fajr showed highest percentage of seed germination

Keywords: priming, rice, salicylic acid, salt stress, seed germination

Introduction
The word salicylic acid (SA) was derived from Latin word Salix, meaning willow tree. It is
ubiquitously distributed in the whole plant domain (Raskin et al., 1990) and is classified under the
group of plant hormones (Raskin, 1992). SA is assigned diverse controlling roles in the metabolism
of plants (Popova et al., 1997). Germination is one of the effective processes for improving the
quality of cultivated plants which are widely consumed in the word. The process is influenced by
external factors such as presence or absence of light, metal or mineral composition of soil,
germination time, all of which aid or inhibit the germination process in relation to the reserve
materials of the seed (Valverde2004). Seed priming is a method in which seeds are partially
hydrated until the germination process begins, but radicle emergence does not occur (Bradford
1995). Primed seeds usually exhibit an increased germination rate, greater germination
uniformity, and, at times, greater total germination percentage (Basra et al 2005). Germination
and seedling growth are reduced in saline soils with varying responses for species and cultivars (
Hampson and Simpson, 1990). Salinity may also affect the germination of seeds by creating an
external osmotic potential that prevents water uptake or due to toxic effects of Na+ and Cl- ions on
the germinating seed (Khajeh-Hosseini et al., 2003). Senaratna (2000) reported that SA could
provide multiple stress tolerance. Similarly, soaking wheat seeds in SA solution provided
protection against not only drought, but also salinity stress (Hamada and Al-Hakimi, 2001).
Oryza sativa (rice) is recognized as one of the most important crops in the world and it provides the
main source of energy for more than half of the world population. It is the major food crop in the
Asia. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of salicylic acid (SA) seed priming on
some germination characteristics in rice varieties were grown under the salinity stress.

Materials and Methods

In order to evaluate the effects of seed priming under salinity conditions on germination traits, a
factorial experiment was conducted in physiology lab of University of Tehran in 2010 based on
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND

HUMAN HEALTH
the completely randomized block design with three replications. Experimental treatments
included three levels of SA priming (0, 600, 1200 mol), two levels of (with and without
salinity) and 7 rice varieties (Gaem, Mazandran, Fajr, Sepid, Neda, Nemat, Sang-e-tarom).
Seed disinfection: Twenty five seeds of each cultivar were enclosed and soaked for 30 second in
0.5% solution (v/v) of sodium hypochlorite. After each treatment, the seeds were rinsed (15 see)
three times with distilled water.
Rice seedling treated with different concentrations of salicylic acid (SA) (i.e. 0, 600, 1200 mol )
have been used for seedling growth. For this purpose, after surface sterilization of seeds, they were
soaked in SA solutions for 48 h and thereafter dried by sterile paper. Then they were transferred in
to whatman filter paper and were grown under the salinity stress (NaCl solution) and without
salinity (distilled water) conditions. The number of germinated seed, radical length, shoot length
and root number were recorded after one week.
The analysis of variance of the data was done by SAS, 9.1 and MCTATC software.

Results and Discussion

Radical length:
Analysis of variance results showed that effects of varieties, varieties salicylic acid priming
Interaction (p<0.05), priming salinity Interaction and varieties salicylic acid priming salinity
Interaction (p<0.01) were significant. Effect of priming, salinity and varieties salinity interaction
were not significant (table1). Since there was significant Interaction between varieties salicylic
acid priming salinity, highest radical length was relative to Neda variety under control priming
and without salinity. But the Lowest radical length was obtained under control priming and salinity
that was relative to Mazandran variety. Similarly, mer et al (2000) reported that salinity (NaCl)
decreased radical length of different crop.
Shoot length:
Analysis of variance results showed that effect of salicylic acid priming and salinity was
significant (p<0.05). Since there was significant varieties salicylic acid priming salinity
Interaction, The Sepid variety in SA priming (600 mol) level and non-salinity conditions showed
the highest mean of shoot length. The lowest mean was related to Mazandran variety under SA
priming control and salinity stress.
Root numbers:
Analysis of variance results showed that effect of varieties, salicylic acid priming and salinity
was significant (p<0.05) (table 1).Since there was significant varieties salicylic acid priming
salinity Interaction. The highest mean of root numbers was related to Sepid and Nemat varieties
and the lowest was related to Mazandran variety.
Germination percentage:
The effects of varieties, varieties salicylic acid priming Interaction at 5% and varieties salinity
Interaction and salicylic acid priming salinity Interaction at 1% were significant but varieties
salicylic acid priming salinity Interaction was not significant (table 1).
The result of mean comparison showed that highest germination percentage was related to the
tarom, neda and fajr varieties and lowest germination percentage was related to the Mazandran
variety. In the condition of salinity stress, highest and lowest mean was relative to Salicylic acid
levels 600 and 1200 mol, respectively. Shakirova (2003) reported that Salicylic acid (SA) is a
germination inducer.
According to the results of this study, it is concluded that Salicylic acid priming causes a series of
biochemical changes during seed priming which will show its effect on growth and developmental
stages.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND

HUMAN HEALTH
Table1: Analysis of variance for Oryza sativa (rice) seed germination radical length, shoot length
and root number
s.o.v

df

Genotype

Mean Square
radical length

Shoot length

Root number

GP

196.56**

61.59**

9.87**

395.68**

prime

2.77ns

19.24**

5.73**

21.84ns

Genotype*prime

12

14.92*

19.61**

5.08**

47.17*

salinity

.071ns

97.17**

4.76**

24.88ns

Genotype*salinity

12.66ns

20.55**

5.1**

75.85**

Prime*salinity

34.37*

3.22*

3.21**

99.55**

Genotype*prime*salinity

12

17.31*

13.75**

9.42**

30.07ns

error

84

7.99

.94

.37

20.31

15.2

11.27

16.44

5.47

CV%

* And **: Significant at the 5% and 1% probability levels, respectively ns: no-significant

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