Studies on seed priming in pepper (Capsicum annuum L.)

Abstract

Plants are regularly exposed to various adverse environmental conditions such as drought, salinity, chilling, and high temperatures. These abiotic stresses adversely affect the plant growth and productivity and, in extreme cases, cause plant death. One feature expected of high-quality seeds is to be able to germinate under adverse growing conditions. Rapid germination and emergence are essential for successful crop establishment, for which seed priming could play an important role. Seed priming is an effective technology to enhance rapid and uniform emergence and to achieve high vigor, leading to better stand establishment and yield. Over the past 50 years, there has been extensive literature published on seed priming and related pre-sowing seed treatments. These have been particularly promising for high-value small-seeded vegetable crops such as pepper where rapid, uniform germination is at a premium either in the cell transplant production or where accurate and uniform plant population density is required from direct sowing. The aim of this chapter is to review some of the current ideas and recent work on physiological priming treatments designed to enhance germination and emergence performances of pepper seeds. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018. All rights reserved.