Determine the best method and time of priming of Echinacea purpurea seed in vitro and pot conditions

To determine the best method and time of priming on seedling characteristics of Echinacea purpurea seed in vitro and pot conditions, two separated experiments were carried out at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Urmia, Iran. Both of experiments were factorial experiments on a randomize design. Treatments contain methods of priming (Hardening, hydrothermal, hydro priming, KCl2, CaNo3, NaCl, KNo3 and control) and time of priming (3 and 6 h). Results of the variance analysis indicated that there were significant differences between priming methods both in vitro and pot conditions. But it is not reported any differences between priming times in vitro condition. However, with the increasing length of priming time in pot condition, positive effects of priming methods on germination components were more. Point of interest in this study was that all priming methods didn’t improve germination components. NaCl priming in vitro and hydro thermal priming in pot condition reduced rate and percentage of germination as compared to control. However, in total, the different methods of priming had positive effects on germination characteristics of Echinacea Purpurea seed. Hardening and KCl2 priming at 6 h had the positive highest effects on rate and percentage of germination and seed vigor. Therefore, these methods can be used to increase quality and vigor of Echinacea Purpurea seed and subsequently increase plant tolerance to unfavorable environmental conditions as well as uniformity and seedling emergence.