The impact of seed priming on gas exchange rate and the activity of antioxidant enzymes of leaves in two wheat cultivars

Seed priming is a technique through which seeds are physiologically and biochemically prepared for germination before being planted and confronting the ecological conditions of the environment. This can create several biological and physiological attributes in the primed seed and the resulting plant. The present study explored the impact of seed priming on a number of physiological characteristics two cultivars of dry land wheat. The experiment treatments included control (without seed priming), seed priming (hardening: wet and dry seeds with distilled water and zinc sulfate at three concentrations: 200, 300, and 400 ppm), and two cultivars of dry land wheat (Sardari and Azar2). This experiment was carried out in the Faculty of Agriculture at University of Kurdistan, following a factorial completely randomized design, with three replications. The results indicated that the experiment treatments had a significant impact on the chlorophyll, photosynthesis, transpiration, sub-stomata CO2, mesophilic conductivity, water use efficiency, catalase, peroxidase, and seed weight. Priming of seed with zinc increased the amount of chlorophyll, photosynthesis, transpiration, mesophilic conductivity, water use efficiency, and seed weight in wheat cultivars. The activity of catalase and peroxidase enzymes declined with seed priming. Sub-stomata CO2 and water use efficiency in Sardari cultivar were more than Azar2. However, chlorophyll and the activity of catalase and peroxidase enzymes in the leaves of Azar2 cultivar were more than Sardari.