Effect of Hormonal Seed Priming on Germination, Growth, Yield and Biomass Allocation in Soybean Grown under Induced Drought Stress
Phetole Mangena
Abstract
Seed priming has potential to improve seedling development and plant growth under environmental stress. In this study, seeds of soybean cultivar LS678 and TGx1835-10E were pretreated with an optimum level of benzyladenine (4.87 mgL-1) before sowing into pots containing pasteurised mixture of vermiculite and sand. Plants were grown up to V3 stage before exposure to moderate and severe drought stress. According to the results, germination was rapid in hydroprimed seeds than BA primed seeds, which took longer to emerge. However, growth, yield and biomass of BA primed plants were increased (number of branches per plant- 7.32, flowering-87.6%, 100 seed weight- 22.6 g, overall biomass fraction- >40.5%) compared to plants developed from hydroprimed seeds (number of branches- 3.61, seed weight- 19.2 g, biomass- 12%) under similar growth conditions. This study indicated that, hormonal seed priming with BA reasonably enhanced soybean growth, particularly root biomass, flowering and fruiting. These effects further suggest that BA may play a significant role in improving drought tolerance in soybean.