Novel and Accessible Seed Priming Agent to Enhance Germination and Stress Resilience Under Saline Conditions

Overview

Climate change is triggering soil salinization, which limits crop production, mainly in island communities such as American Samoa. Seed priming is a proven method to boost germination under stresses like saline conditions, but farmers in salt-affected areas lack access to affordable chemical agents. This study investigated the effects of three priming treatments, salicylic acid (SA) at 0.5 mM, turmeric powder extract (Curcuma longa) at 0.1%, and an unprimed control, on two germination parameters, germination percentage (Germination_%) and mean germination time (MGT_days), under two saline conditions (0 mM NaCl and 100 mM NaCl). A two-way factorial ANOVA design was used to analyze the data. Then, post hoc comparisons conducted using Tukey's HSD. Results showed that turmeric 0.1% primed seeds, significantly reduced MGT compared to both SA and unprimed seeds (p < .001), regardless of the salinity level (no significant interaction, p = .669). A significant interaction between priming type and salinity was observed, (p = .003) driven by a marked decline in SA primed seeds under salt stress (~62%), while turmeric primed and unprimed seeds maintained high germination (~95%) in germination percentage. A significant negative correlation between germination percentage and MGT (r = -0.453, p = .026; BF?0 = 5.142) confirmed that faster germinating seeds also achieved higher germination. These findings suggest that the seeds primed with turmeric offer a promising, low-cost alternative for improving seed germination performance, particularly under saline conditions.

Competition history

• ISEF 2026 Plant Sciences · Entry PLNT035

Resources

• ISEF abstract page ↗

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