Research Article Effect of Osmopriming Duration on Germination ...downloads.hindawi.com/journals/ija/2014/841238.pdf · salt (soaked in % KNO 3 salt solution and dried before sowing)

Research ArticleEffect of Osmopriming Duration on Germination Emergenceand Early Growth of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L) Walp) inthe Sudan Savanna of Nigeria

Ajit Singh1 Rabi Dahiru2 Mukhtar Musa2 and Bello Sani Haliru2

1 School of Biosciences Faculty of Science The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus Jalan Broga43500 Semenyih Selangor Malaysia

2 Department of Crop Science Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto PMB 2346 Sokoto Nigeria

Correspondence should be addressed to Mukhtar Musa mbmukhtargmailcom

Received 30 June 2013 Revised 31 December 2013 Accepted 14 January 2014 Published 27 February 2014

Academic Editor Bernd Lennartz

Copyright copy 2014 Ajit Singh et alThis is an open access article distributed under theCreativeCommonsAttributionLicensewhichpermits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited

Seed osmopriming could be a sustainable method to increase crop establishment uniform emergence and growth of plant on thefield Laboratory and field studies were carried out in 2010 cropping season at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto to studythe effect of seed osmopriming duration on the germination emergence and growth of cowpea seeds Treatments consisted ofthree osmopriming duration (soaking in 1 KNO

3salt for 6 8 and 10 hrs) one hydroprimed control (10 hr) and an unprimed

controlThese five treatments were laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) replicated four timesThe results showed thatosmopriming with KNO

3for different durations was at par but was superior to unprimed treatments in terms of seed germination

emergence plant height and dry matter accumulation at 3 weeks after sowing From this study it can therefore be concluded thatseeds of cowpea could be primed (both hydro and osmopriming) for increased performance However osmopriming with KNO

3

salt (soaked in 1 KNO3salt solution and dried before sowing) for 6 hours could result in greater seed germination and seedling

height than hydropriming

1 Introduction

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L) Walp) is an important foodcrop in West Africa It is often called as ldquopoor manrsquos meatrdquoin this region where people cannot afford expensive animalprotein Cowpea is often recommended for pregnant andnursing mothers due to its high nutritional values The ripeseed on average contains 220protein 14 fat 591 carbo-hydrate and 37 ash The energy value is 1420 k (340 kcal)per 100 g Cowpea is the preferred pulse in large parts ofAfrica The mature seeds are cooked and eaten alone ortogether with vegetable spices and often palm oil to producea thick bean soup which accompanies the staple food (cas-sava yam plantain) [1]

Despite the immense importance of cowpea in our dietthe yield obtained by the farmers is low 026 t haminus1 [2]One of the reasons contributing to low yield is poor cropestablishment [3] Good crop establishment seldom occurs in

the marginal environment of the semi-Arid tropics due tounpredictable and erratic rainfall poor soil and low qualityseed Even where irrigation is possible good crop establish-ment may still not be achieved [4 5] This problem couldhowever be addressed by seed priming Seed priming is aprocedure in which seed is soaked and then dried back toits original water content [3] osmopriming simply meanssoaking seeds in osmotic solution [6] Gurusinghe et al [7]described seed priming as a technique of controlled hydrationand drying that results in more rapid germination when theseed is reimbibed Priming can be a valuable process forimproving germination and uniformity of heterogeneouslymatured seed lots [8] Seed priming has been successfullydemonstrated to improve germination and emergence inseeds of many crops particularly vegetables and small seededgrasses [9] According to Bradford [9] and Taylor andHerman [10] seed priming is a presowing strategy for influ-encing seedling development by modulating pregermination

Hindawi Publishing CorporationInternational Journal of AgronomyVolume 2014 Article ID 841238 4 pageshttpdxdoiorg1011552014841238

2 International Journal of Agronomy

metabolic activity prior to emergence of the radicle andgenerally enhances germination rate and plant performanceFast germination and uniform emergence assist the farmer toldquocatch uprdquo on the time lost to drought [11] Work in Pakistanon seed of melon cultivar ldquoRavirdquo demonstrated that osmo-priming with 1 KNO

3resulted in increased seedling

dry weight and increased number of pods compared withunprimed treatments [12]

Thus this experiment was conducted to study the effect ofseed osmopriming duration using 1 KNO

3on the germina-

tion emergence and seedling growth of cowpea in a semiaridenvironment

2 Methodology

For both germination and emergence tests treatment con-sisted of three rates of osmopriming duration (soaking in1 solution of KNO

3for 6 8 and 10 hrs) one rate of

hydropriming (soaking in distilled water for 10 hrs) and acontrol (unprimed seed) laid out in a completely randomizeddesign replicated four times

21 Seed Germination Cowpeaseeds of Cultivar 277-2 weresourced from Sokoto Agricultural Development Project(SADP) Osmopriming and hydropriming treatments wereimposed in the night a day prior to setting up the experimentas prescribed by the treatments (ie soaking in 1 KNO

3

solution for 6 8 and 10 hrs for osmopriming and soakingfor 10 hrs in distilled water for hydropriming) At the timeof experiment the temperature of the KNO

3solution and

natural water during priming was 29∘C and the environmen-tal temperature was 30∘C 1 KNO

3solution was prepared

by diluting 10 g of KNO3with 1000mL (1 litre of water) and

200mL of the solution was used to soak 400 seeds for eachtreatment After priming seeds were removed air-dried for2 hours and treated with seed treatment chemical (ApronStar 42WS containing 20ww thiamethoxam 20wwmetalaxyl-M and 2ww difenoconazole) at the rate of onesachet (10 g) per 4 kg of seed to avoid any seed borne infectionduring the experiment Seed germination test was carriedout in the Crop Science Laboratory Usmanu DanfodiyoUniversity Sokoto Four replicates of 100 seed were placed ontheWhitmanrsquos filter paper in Petri dishes with 8 cm diameterWater was poured regularly on the filter paper to ensureadequate moisture for seed germination Data were collectedon germination from day one to the fifth day after sowing andon percentage germination A seed was considered germi-nated when the radicle emerged through the seed coatGermination percentage was computed using the followingformula

Germination percentage =Total seeds germinated

Total seeds sowntimes 100

(1)

22 Field Emergence The emergence test was carried out inthe rainy season in the Biological Science Garden of UsmanuDanfodiyo University Sokoto (13∘011015840N and 15∘131015840E about

350m above sea level) in the Sudan Savanna Agroecologywith annual rainfall ranging from 500 to 800mmper annum

The experimental site was prepared manually using handhoe and leveled using a rake Twenty (20) beds of 30 times 30 cmeach were constructed Sowing was done on July 21 2010 inrows by drilling 100 seeds at a depth of 1-2 cm in a sandy soilSoil temperature at sowing to emergence ranged from 32 to34∘C and atmospheric temperature ranged from 30 to 32∘CNo fertilizer or irrigation was applied during the experimentData were collected on emergence of seedling on the firstsecond and third day after sowing only due to limitation ofresourcesThis was done by counting the number of seedlingsthat emerged out of the soil Data was also collected on theseedling height and dry matter accumulation at 3 weeks aftersowing (WAS) Five plants were sampled and used for bothseedling height and drymatter accumulation Seedling heightwas measured using ameter rule from the base of the plant tothe growing tip of the plant and drymatter accumulation wasobtained by harvesting the plant at 3WAS and oven-drying at65∘C to constant weight The percentage seedling emergencewas computed using the following formula

Emergence percentage =Total seeds emergedTotal seeds sown

times 100 (2)

The data collected on seed germination emergence seedlingheight and dry matter accumulation were subjected to anal-ysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure for completely ran-domized design (CRD) using SAS 2003 software [13] Meanseparation was carried out using least significant differencetest (LSD)

3 Results and Discussions

31 Seed Germination Seed priming treatments led to sig-nificant differences in cowpea germination on days 1 and 2as well as in total germination (Table 1) while on days 34 and 5 no significant differences were observed (Table 1)On day 1 after sowing osmoprimed seeds had significantlyhigher germination than unprimed and hydroprimed seedswhile on day 2 germination of seeds osmoprimed for 10 hrswas significantly higher than other treatments and the leastwas recorded with unprimed seeds Osmoprimed seeds hadhigher total germination (7900 7500 and 8100 for 68 and 10 hrs of priming resp) than either hydroprimed(6600) or unprimed seeds (5300) (Table 1)The differencesin germination on day 1 between osmoprimed and othertreatments were not surprising Such differences were theexpected result of earlier activation of physiological processesof germination in primed seeds that resulted in improved ger-mination through activation and softening of the seed coatAlso final germination of all osmoprimed seeds was signif-icantly higher than either hydroprimed or unprimed seedsUse of KNO

3salt may have supplied NO

3to the seed and also

caused exosmosis that resulted in removal of germination-inhibiting substances This result was similar to work byGurusinghe et al [7] where radical tip cells of some tomatoseed lots advanced through the cell cycle during primingIn this study this was evident on day 2 when primed seeds

International Journal of Agronomy 3

Table 1 Effect of osmopriming duration on germination of cowpea seeds

Priming treatment Priming duration (hrs) Number of seeds germinated Total 1 DAS 2 DAS 3 DAS 4 DAS 5 DAS

Unprimed (0) 000b 1075c 1300 2050 1000 5300d

Hydropriming 10 200b 2125ab 1150 1950 1150 6600c

Osmopriming 6 1125a 2100ab 1650 1800 1250 7900ab

Osmopriming 8 1150a 1850b 1325 1975 1200 7500b

Osmopriming 10 1075a 2400a 1525 1850 1250 8100a

SE 0987 1440 1434 0834 1025 1524Significance lowast lowast ns ns ns lowast

Means in a column followed by same letters are not significance different using LSD test lowastSignificant at 5 level ns not significant DAS day(s) after sowing

Table 2 Effect of seed osmopriming duration on emergence of cowpea seedlings

Priming treatment Priming duration (hrs) Emergence Total ()1 DAS 2 DAS 3 DAS

Unprimed (0) 725b 1750 1950 4425c

Hydropriming 10 1350a 1950 1800 5100b

Osmopriming 6 1525a 1950 1850 5350ab

Osmopriming 8 1375a 2000 1925 5300ab

Osmopriming 10 1400a 2050 2075 5525a

SE 1337 0834 0677 1281Significance lowast ns ns lowast

Means in a column followed by same letters are not significantly different using LSD test lowastSignificant at 5 level DAS day(s) after sowing

Table 3 Effect of osmopriming duration on the height and dry matter accumulation of cowpea seedling at 3 weeks after sowing

Priming treatment Priming duration (hrs) Seedling height at 3 WAS (cm) Dry matter accumulation at 3 WAS (g)Unprimed (0) 1198c 050b

Hydropriming 10 1623b 206a

Osmopriming 6 2148a 281a



SE 1074 0284Significance lowast lowast

Means in a column followed same letter are not significantly different using LSD lowastSignificant at 5 level WAS week(s) after sowing

germinated faster than unprimed seeds The results agreewith those of [14] who reported faster and higher totalgermination of sorghum using KNO

3solution

32 Seedling Emergence As with germination hydro- andosmopriming improved the emergence speed on day 1 andled to significantly higher total emergence over the unprimed(control) (Table 2) However no significant differences wereobserved between osmoprimed and hydroprimed seedsAccording to Singh et al [14] stand establishment determinesplant density uniformity and management options Othersources have also reported that seed emerged faster andmorecompletely following simple overnight on-farm primingtechniques [11]

33 Seedling Growth Results indicated a significant effect ofpriming on seedling height and dry matter accumulation atthree weeks after sowing (Table 3) Plant height significantly

increased following osmopriming for 6 8 and 10 hours andwas the highest followed by hydropriming for 10 hours andthe least was recordedwith unprimed (control) Similarly drymatter accumulation following all priming treatments wassignificantly higher than unprimed seeds These results indi-cated the potential for better seedling field performanceunder abiotic stress conditionsThedifference could be due tofaster germination and emergence recorded with primedseeds Similar conclusions were reported by Ashraf and Rauf[15] who stated that primed corn seeds under environmentalstress had a better chance for producing a good crop withhigher economic yield Likewise earlier work on cowpeain the same environment [16] recommended six hours ofpriming for the best performance of the crop

4 Conclusions

In conclusion the study performed on cowpea suggested thatcowpea seeds can be primed (both hydro- and osmopriming)


for increased germination and field performance How-ever osmopriming with 1 KNO

3salt for 6 hours could

result in greater seed germination and seedling height thanhydropriming

Recommendations Further research is needed to osmoprim-ing of cowpea seeds with 1 KNO

3salt for shorter durations

of 2 and 4 hrs

Conflict of Interests

The authors of this paper have no financial relation whatso-ever that can lead to conflict of interests

References

[1] T Vanderborght and J P Baudoin ldquo(Vigna unguiculata) (L)Walpersrdquo in Crop Production in Tropical Africa H R RomainEd pp 334ndash348 DGIC Belgium 2001

[2] FAOSTAT Data ldquoFood and agricultural organizations statis-ticsrdquo 2007 httpfaostat3faoorghomeindexhtml

[3] D Harris ldquoOn-farm seed priming to increase yield of cropsand reduce risk of crop failure in marginal areas of developingcountriesrdquo in Proceedings of the 2nd international AgronomyCongress on Balancing Food and Environmental Security Acontaining challenge [Extended Sumaries] pp 1509ndash1511 NewDelhi India 2002

[4] D Harris ldquoStaying in control of rainfed cropsrdquo in Proceedingsof the 1st Annual Scientific Conference of the SADCCODA Landand Water Management Programme pp 257ndash262 GaboroneBotswana 1992

[5] D Harris ldquoThe effects of manure genotype seed primingdepth and date of sowing on the emergence and early growthsorghum bicolor (L) Moench in semi-arid Botswanardquo Soil andTillage Research vol 40 no 1-2 pp 73ndash88 1996

[6] C A Parera and D J Cantliffe ldquoPresowing seed primingrdquoHorticultural Reviews vol 16 pp 109ndash114 1999

[7] S H Gurusinghe Z Cheng and K J Bradford ldquoCell cycleactivity during seed priming is not essential for germinationadvancement in tomatordquo Journal of Experimental Botany vol50 no 330 pp 101ndash106 1999

[8] M O Oluoch and G E Welbaum ldquoEffect of postharvestwashing and post-storage priming on viability and vigour of six-year-old muskmelon (Cucumis melo L) seeds from eight stagesof developmentrdquo Seed Science and Technology vol 24 no 2 pp195ndash209 1996

[9] K J Bradford ldquoManipulation of seedwater relations via osmoticpriming to improve germination under stress conditionrdquo HortScience vol 21 pp 1105ndash1112 1986

[10] A G Taylor and G E Herman ldquoConcepts and technologies ofseed treatmentsrdquo Annual Review of Phytology vol 28 pp 321ndash339 1990

[11] D Harris B S Raghuwanshi J S Gangwar et al ldquoParticipatoryevaluation by farmers of on-farm seed priming in wheat inIndia Nepal and PakistanrdquoExperimental Agriculture vol 37 no3 pp 403ndash415 2001

[12] M Farooq S M A Basra N Ahmed and B A SaleemldquoOsmopriming improves the germination and early seedlinggrowth of melons (Cucumus melo L)rdquo Pakistan Journal ofAgricultural Sciences vol 44 p 3 2007

[13] SAS (Statistical Analysis System) ldquoSAS Release 91 for Win-dowsrdquo SAS Institute Inc Cary NC USA 2003

[14] A Singh R Dahiru and M Musa ldquoOsmopriming durationinfluence on germination emergence and seedling growth ofsorghumrdquo Seed Technology vol 34 no 1 pp 111ndash118 2012

[15] M Ashraf and H Rauf ldquoInducing salt tolerance in maize (Zeamays L) through seed priming with chloride salts growthand ion transport at early growth stagesrdquo Acta PhysiologiaePlantarum vol 23 no 4 pp 407ndash414 2001

[16] A Singh AH Abubakar HG Ahmed et al ldquoSeed hydroprim-ing effects on germination emergence and growth of cowpea(Vigna unguiculata L Walprdquo Trends in Advanced Science andEngineering vol 1 no 3 pp 37ndash42 2011

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metabolic activity prior to emergence of the radicle andgenerally enhances germination rate and plant performanceFast germination and uniform emergence assist the farmer toldquocatch uprdquo on the time lost to drought [11] Work in Pakistanon seed of melon cultivar ldquoRavirdquo demonstrated that osmo-priming with 1 KNO

3resulted in increased seedling

dry weight and increased number of pods compared withunprimed treatments [12]

Thus this experiment was conducted to study the effect ofseed osmopriming duration using 1 KNO

3on the germina-

tion emergence and seedling growth of cowpea in a semiaridenvironment

2 Methodology

For both germination and emergence tests treatment con-sisted of three rates of osmopriming duration (soaking in1 solution of KNO

3for 6 8 and 10 hrs) one rate of

hydropriming (soaking in distilled water for 10 hrs) and acontrol (unprimed seed) laid out in a completely randomizeddesign replicated four times

21 Seed Germination Cowpeaseeds of Cultivar 277-2 weresourced from Sokoto Agricultural Development Project(SADP) Osmopriming and hydropriming treatments wereimposed in the night a day prior to setting up the experimentas prescribed by the treatments (ie soaking in 1 KNO

3

solution for 6 8 and 10 hrs for osmopriming and soakingfor 10 hrs in distilled water for hydropriming) At the timeof experiment the temperature of the KNO

3solution and

natural water during priming was 29∘C and the environmen-tal temperature was 30∘C 1 KNO

3solution was prepared

by diluting 10 g of KNO3with 1000mL (1 litre of water) and

200mL of the solution was used to soak 400 seeds for eachtreatment After priming seeds were removed air-dried for2 hours and treated with seed treatment chemical (ApronStar 42WS containing 20ww thiamethoxam 20wwmetalaxyl-M and 2ww difenoconazole) at the rate of onesachet (10 g) per 4 kg of seed to avoid any seed borne infectionduring the experiment Seed germination test was carriedout in the Crop Science Laboratory Usmanu DanfodiyoUniversity Sokoto Four replicates of 100 seed were placed ontheWhitmanrsquos filter paper in Petri dishes with 8 cm diameterWater was poured regularly on the filter paper to ensureadequate moisture for seed germination Data were collectedon germination from day one to the fifth day after sowing andon percentage germination A seed was considered germi-nated when the radicle emerged through the seed coatGermination percentage was computed using the followingformula

Germination percentage =Total seeds germinated

Total seeds sowntimes 100

(1)

22 Field Emergence The emergence test was carried out inthe rainy season in the Biological Science Garden of UsmanuDanfodiyo University Sokoto (13∘011015840N and 15∘131015840E about

350m above sea level) in the Sudan Savanna Agroecologywith annual rainfall ranging from 500 to 800mmper annum

The experimental site was prepared manually using handhoe and leveled using a rake Twenty (20) beds of 30 times 30 cmeach were constructed Sowing was done on July 21 2010 inrows by drilling 100 seeds at a depth of 1-2 cm in a sandy soilSoil temperature at sowing to emergence ranged from 32 to34∘C and atmospheric temperature ranged from 30 to 32∘CNo fertilizer or irrigation was applied during the experimentData were collected on emergence of seedling on the firstsecond and third day after sowing only due to limitation ofresourcesThis was done by counting the number of seedlingsthat emerged out of the soil Data was also collected on theseedling height and dry matter accumulation at 3 weeks aftersowing (WAS) Five plants were sampled and used for bothseedling height and drymatter accumulation Seedling heightwas measured using ameter rule from the base of the plant tothe growing tip of the plant and drymatter accumulation wasobtained by harvesting the plant at 3WAS and oven-drying at65∘C to constant weight The percentage seedling emergencewas computed using the following formula

Emergence percentage =Total seeds emergedTotal seeds sown

times 100 (2)

The data collected on seed germination emergence seedlingheight and dry matter accumulation were subjected to anal-ysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure for completely ran-domized design (CRD) using SAS 2003 software [13] Meanseparation was carried out using least significant differencetest (LSD)

3 Results and Discussions

31 Seed Germination Seed priming treatments led to sig-nificant differences in cowpea germination on days 1 and 2as well as in total germination (Table 1) while on days 34 and 5 no significant differences were observed (Table 1)On day 1 after sowing osmoprimed seeds had significantlyhigher germination than unprimed and hydroprimed seedswhile on day 2 germination of seeds osmoprimed for 10 hrswas significantly higher than other treatments and the leastwas recorded with unprimed seeds Osmoprimed seeds hadhigher total germination (7900 7500 and 8100 for 68 and 10 hrs of priming resp) than either hydroprimed(6600) or unprimed seeds (5300) (Table 1)The differencesin germination on day 1 between osmoprimed and othertreatments were not surprising Such differences were theexpected result of earlier activation of physiological processesof germination in primed seeds that resulted in improved ger-mination through activation and softening of the seed coatAlso final germination of all osmoprimed seeds was signif-icantly higher than either hydroprimed or unprimed seedsUse of KNO

3salt may have supplied NO

3to the seed and also

caused exosmosis that resulted in removal of germination-inhibiting substances This result was similar to work byGurusinghe et al [7] where radical tip cells of some tomatoseed lots advanced through the cell cycle during primingIn this study this was evident on day 2 when primed seeds




Unprimed (0) 000b 1075c 1300 2050 1000 5300d



Osmopriming 8 1150a 1850b 1325 1975 1200 7500b

Osmopriming 10 1075a 2400a 1525 1850 1250 8100a





Unprimed (0) 725b 1750 1950 4425c

Hydropriming 10 1350a 1950 1800 5100b

Osmopriming 6 1525a 1950 1850 5350ab

Osmopriming 8 1375a 2000 1925 5300ab

Osmopriming 10 1400a 2050 2075 5525a












3solution




4 Conclusions








of 2 and 4 hrs



References



















Journal of




Agronomy





Microbiology




Volume 2014



























Unprimed (0) 000b 1075c 1300 2050 1000 5300d



Osmopriming 8 1150a 1850b 1325 1975 1200 7500b

Osmopriming 10 1075a 2400a 1525 1850 1250 8100a





Unprimed (0) 725b 1750 1950 4425c

Hydropriming 10 1350a 1950 1800 5100b

Osmopriming 6 1525a 1950 1850 5350ab

Osmopriming 8 1375a 2000 1925 5300ab

Osmopriming 10 1400a 2050 2075 5525a












3solution




4 Conclusions








of 2 and 4 hrs



References



















Journal of




Agronomy





Microbiology




Volume 2014






























of 2 and 4 hrs



References



















Journal of




Agronomy





Microbiology




Volume 2014


























Journal of




Agronomy





Microbiology




Volume 2014
























Documents

Research Article Effect of Osmopriming Duration on Germination ...downloads.hindawi.com/journals/ija/2014/841238.pdf · salt (soaked in % KNO 3 salt solution and dried before sowing)