Percentage Germination and Seedling Evaluation Parameters of Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) Seeds as Affected by Different Priming Treatments and Durations

Aim: To investigate the effect of different priming pretreatments and durations on germination of parsley (Petroselinum crispum) seeds.

Study Design: Completely randomized design with 3 treatments replicated four times at different priming durations.

Place and Duration: Seed Science Laboratory - Department of Seed, Crop and Horticulture Science, University of Eldoret during May 2017.

Methodology: The treatments were hydro priming with water for 24 and 48 hours, halo priming with 2% potassium nitrate (KNO3) for 24 and 48 hours, osmopriming with 10% Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) 600 for 24 and 48 hours. After treatment the seeds were re-dried and the subjected to a germination test using blotter method in a germination chamber. Number of germinated seeds was counted on 28th day. Seedling evaluation was also done.

Results: Hydropriming with water for 48 hours gave the highest germination percentage. Seed priming with 10% PEG gave the highest number of normal seedlings at both 24 and 48 hours. Priming with KNO3 gave the lowest germination percentage with the highest number of dead seeds and abnormal seedlings. Control had the highest number of hard seeds.

Conclusion: Farmers can improve germination of parsley seeds by hydropriming for 48 hours. This method is easy to carry out and does not require expensive chemicals like PEG. However, use of 10% PEG for priming gave the highest number of normal seedlings which are likely to survive under field conditions. Further investigations can be done on the effect of different concentrations of Potassium nitrate and PEG.