Effect of osmo-priming on germination and early seedling growth of Brassica napus L. under salinity conditions

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of osmo-priming with KNO3 on the germination traits and seedling growth of two Brassica napus L. cultivars under salinity conditions. Seeds of two spring rapeseed (Hayola 401 and Okapi) were primed with KNO3 (-1.0 MPa) for 6 h in continuous 30 degrees C. Primed (P) and non-primed (NP) seeds were placed in petridishes with five salinity levels viz. 0.4 (control), 4, 8, 16 and 20 dS/m. Results showed that germination percentage of primed seeds was greater than that of non-primed seeds. Radicle length, seedling height and dry weight of plants derived from primed seeds were higher compared with non-primed seeds. It seems that salinity tolerance in priming resulted plantlets was due to higher potential of these plants for osmosis regulation. In general, this study revealed that seed priming with KNO3 improved canola seed performance under drought stress condition. However, the improvements were more obvious at the higher levels of salinity.