engleski

Effect of seed priming on germination of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.)

Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) is one of the most important species in the Lamiaceae family and is used as a culinary, medicinal and aromatic plant in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Drought stress is one of the most important abiotic stress factors affecting the productivity of many plant species worldwide. Seed priming is a low-cost technique that can improve tolerance to drought stress by improving and accelerating seed germination. In this study, the effect of seed priming on germination of two basil cultivars, ‘Sweet Basil’ and ‘Genovese’, under drought stress was investigated. The seeds were obtained from the Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants held at the Department of Seed Science and Technology, University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture. A total of 800 seeds were used for each cultivar. Seed priming treatments were performed in the dark by soaking 200 seeds in distilled water (dH2O) for 24 hours, 200 seeds in 500 ppm GA3 for 48 hours, and 200 seeds in 0.2 KNO3 (w/v %) for 72 hours and 200 seeds as control. Germination was tested on germination paper treated with dH2O and -2.5 MPa PEG 8000 (drought stress) placing 25 seeds in each Petri dish in four replicates. Seed priming with GA3 had a positive effect on germination percentage in both cultivars. However, in ‘Genovese’ all seed priming treatments had a positive effect on germination percentage and the seed primed with GA3 had the highest germination percentage under drought stress.

drought stress, GA3, medicinal plants, PEG

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