PJB-2018-1583
Efficacy of osmopriming on emergence potential and seedling vigour of rangeland grasses in Pakistan
Ihsan Qadir, Muhammad Farooq Azhar, Muhammad Yousaf Ali, Khayyam Anjum and Karim Yar Abbasi
Abstract
Rangelands of Pakistan have poor vegetation cover mainly due to very less emergence rate and poor growth behaviour of rangeland grasses. In this study Osmopriming techniques for improving emergence, growth behavior and biomass production of highly nutritive and palatable rangeland grasses were tested. For this, two rangeland grasses i.e., Cenchrus ciliaris and Panicumantidotale were selected and osmoprimed for 24 h with PEG-8000 solutions of varying osmotic potentials (0.2, -0.6, -1.2 and -2.4 MPa). It was observed that Cenchrus ciliaris and Panicum antidotale seeds emergence was improved when primed at -0.6 and -1.2 osmotic potential PEG-8000 solutions. Maximum shoot length of C. ciliaris was found in osmoprimed seeds (-1.2 MPa) while root length was observed when the seeds were subjected with PEG-8000 (-2.4 MPa) solution while maximum root length of P. antidotale was recorded when seeds were primed with PEG-8000 (-1.2 MPa) solution. C. ciliaris and P. antidotale plants exhibited maximum dry weight when primed with PEG-8000 solutions (-1.2 and -0.6 MPa, respectively). It can be safely concluded from findings that the rate of emergence, final emergence percentage and biomass production of these two rangeland grasses can be improved by subjecting their seeds with PEG-8000 solutions at low osmotic potential ranging between -0.6 and -1.2. The findings of this study will help in improving the vegetation cover of rangelands in Pakistan.
To Cite this article:
Download
