Seed priming as a strategy for improving seedling emergence stage of a native tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb. ecotype Gaz Borkhar) under drought stress conditions

Due to high expenses of imported lawn seeds and low adaptability of them to climatic conditions of Iran, paying attention to native ecotypes of turf grasses is important. One of the reasons for paying less attention to the seeds of native turf grasses is their lack of rapid and uniform germination rate especially under drought stress conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of seed priming using salicylic acid (1/0, 5/0, 1 and 5/1 mM), sodium chloride (15, 30 and 45ds /m) and distilled water compared to the control treatment on tall fescue native to GazBorkhar (Isfahan province) under mild, moderate and severe drought stress conditions. For this purpose, seed emergence, mean emergence time, shoot height, plant biomass, relative water content, electrolyte leakage, total chlorophyll content and carotenoid content were measured. The results showed seed priming using salicylic acid 0.5 mM significantly increased the seed emergence rate (96.10%) in moderate stress conditions and reduced the time to emerge (3.70 day) in mild stress conditions. Although the plants treated with 0.5 mM salicylic acid did not show significant differences with the control treatment in other characteristics, considering the significance of the amounts and rates of seed emergence in native turf grasses, this prime treatment can be recommended to improve emergence percentage of the seeds of Festuca arundinacea ecotype Gazborkhar.