EFFICACY OF SEED PRECONDITIONING WITH SALICYLIC AND ASCORBIC ACID IN INCREASING VIGOR OF RICE (ORYZA SATIVA L.) SEEDLING

Poor germination is one of the main problems in adopting direct seeded rice culture. The objective of the work was to enhance the efficiency of direct seeded rice in terms of germination and seedlings vigor. In this study, the role of hormonal priming (salicylic acid and ascorbic acid) and hydropriming for 20 and 40 h in increasing seed and seedling vigor both in Petri dishes was assessed. Seed conditioning with salicylic acid caused an increase in seed vigor (10%) and protease activity (18%) in rice at 4th day of sowing, while significant enhancement (6%) was recorded with ascorbic acid in seedlings protease activity. Nitrate reductase activity (NRA) was increased in the 8 days old rice seedlings with all the pre-soaking treatment, the maximum increase was recorded in seedlings raised from seeds treated with salicylic acid (20mg L-1) for 20 h. Based on overall performance, seed priming with salicylic acid increased seed and seedling vigor in fine rice, but the response depended on concentration and seed soaking time.