Abstract

Due to low rainfall at early autumn, smooth vetch seedling growth in rain-fed lands often is limited by water deficit stress yet the data regarding the reactions of smooth vetch to water deficit at early growth stages are pretty rare. The objective of current study was to examine possibility of using priming treatments (hydro priming and priming salicylic acid) to alleviate the inhibitory effect of water deficiency during early growth of Smooth Vetch. In this respect, seeds were soaked in distilled water (hydro priming) or 0.5 mM solution of SA for 36 h at 10 °C then dried back to original moisture content. Pots were irrigated for 25 days at four levels of available water containing field capacity (FC), 75% FC, 50% FC and 25% FC. In general, seedling emergence and early growth were markedly limited by increasing water deficiency. However, priming treatments particularly with SA caused considerable improvement in either emergence or growth of seedlings (dry weight, length). The obtained results showed that primed samples exhibited higher accumulation of proline, glycine betaine (GB) under all levels of available water except 100% FC and also higher total soluble sugars (TSS) and trehalose under severe water deficit (25% FC). SA primed samples had higher relative water content especially under higher levels of water deficiency. The more balanced water status within SA primed samples also was accompanied with higher accumulation of proline and glycine betaine. There were significant differences between two priming treatments in terms of proline and GB content within seedlings and SA priming considerably increased proline and GB accumulation. In contrast to proline and GB, TSS and trehalose content wasn’t influenced by SA treatment and both hydro and SA primed samples showed statistically similar quantities.

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