2025/03/01 by Bernice Mitchener, Joseph King, Carola Peters +4 · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Seed Germination and Physiology #Plant tissue culture and regeneration #Allelopathy and phytotoxic interactions
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0960258525000054
openalex publication_date 2025/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Abstract Seed biopriming with Pseudomonas fluorescens as a beneficial microbial inoculant and seed hydropriming with deionized water were conducted with oilseed rape ( Brassica napus ). Both techniques involve restricted seed hydration followed by seed drying. Seed biopriming reduced the uniformity (time difference between 10 and 90% germination) of germination ca 4-fold, without changing the maximum germination percentages ( G max ) of seed populations. In contrast to this, seed hydropriming improved the uniformity, but not for aged seed populations. The distinct effect of biopriming on germination was caused by the high salt concentration in the priming medium, not by the bacteria or any of the other components. The effects of biopriming duration, seed input and temperature (incubation and drying) were tested and the number of bacteria attached to the seed coat surface was between 1.6 × 10 6 and 9.8 × 10 8 colony-forming units (CFUs) per seed. Long-term storage (21°C, <10% relative humidity, 21% oxygen) of dry bioprimed seeds resulted in a rapid decline of bacterial viability, for example (6 h biopriming, 50 g seed input) from 9.8 × 10 8 CFU per seed to 7.3 × 10 4 after 4 weeks and 5.0 × 10 2 after 12 weeks of air-dry seed storage. Seed biopriming and long-term storage of dry bioprimed seeds did not affect G max at optimal (24°C) and cold-stress (16°C) temperatures, and did not appreciably affect early seedling growth. Additive biopriming with kimchi paste did not affect the number of bacteria attached per seed but caused an ~800-fold increase in retaining bacterial viability during long-term seed storage.