Seed priming improves salinity tolerance of wheat varieties

To evaluate the response of wheat varieties to seed priming and salinity,an experiment was conducted in completely randomized design (crd) with three replications at institute of biotechnology and genetic engineering (ibge),kpk agricultural university,peshawar,pakistan. the performance of 6 wheat varieties (tatara-96,ghaznavi-98,fakhri sarhad,bakhtawar-92,pirsabaq-2004 and auqab-2000) at two seed conditions (primed with 30 mm nacl and unprimed) under four salinity levels (0,40,80 and 120 mm) was studied. statistical analysis of the data revealed that salinity,seed priming and varieties had significantly (p≤0.05) affected shoot fresh weight plant -1 shoot dry weight plant -1,shoot na + contents (mg g -1 dry weight),shoot k + contents (mg g -1 dry weight) and shoot k +/na + ratio. maximum shoot fresh weight plant -1 (7.71 g),shoot dry weight plant -1 (1.68 g),shoot k + contents (1.39 mg g -1 dry weight) and shoot k +/na + ratio (1.45) were recorded from bakhtawar-92 as compared with other varieties. highest shoot na + contents (1.43 mg g -1 dry weight) were recorded from auqab-2000 when compared with other varieties. all parameters were enhanced with seed priming except shoot na + contents,which reduced significantly (p≤0.05) with seed priming.