EFFECT OF DIFFERENT PRIMING AGENTS ON GERMINATION OF PURSLANE (PORTULACA OLERACEA L.) SEEDS UNDER LABORATORY CONDITIONS

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) has gained in popularity as a food crop due to the presence of many biologically active compounds that are regarded to be helpful for human health and disease prevention. Unfavorable environmental conditions during sowing, such as high temperature and rigid seed structure can cause late, poor emergence and substantial seed mortality, resulting in low crop stand and yield. The only approach to tackle these challenges is to improve seed germination by using seed priming. Seed priming is a pre-sowing treatment that causes a physiological change in the seed, allowing it to germinate more quickly. The goal of this study was to observe the effect of different primings, such as temperature (hot water), methanol, NaCl, and KI, on germination under laboratory conditions at various concentrations and temperatures. The hot water-treated seed with temperatures of 30, 40, and 50 degrees C for 10 minutes revealed 100% germination at 50 degrees C under In vitro conditions. The effect of both salts (NaCl and KI) at concentrations of 15, 30, and 45% for 10 minutes showed that seed germination was inversely proportional to concentration. In comparison to NaCl, KI salt had a higher rate of purslane seed germination. Furthermore, the current study aimed to investigate the influence of various methanol concentrations on seed germination, > 90% germination was obtained at 20% concentration, followed by 10% and 30%. According to the present finding hot water was most effective to use as farm-priming of Purslane seeds. In fluctuating situations, seed priming techniques are a safe and simple strategy for promoting seed germination. They may help to manage early-season drought and avoid seed germination failure, which leads to crop failure.