Effects of Seed Priming on Growth and Yield of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) in Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Poor stand establishment is the major production constraint in semi-arid lowlands of Eastern Ethiopia and resulting low crop productivity. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of seed priming on growth and yield of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). A factorial combination of three varieties (Dekeba, Melkam, and Teshale) and four priming media (water, N, Zn and unprimed control) replicated three times in RCBD. Results indicated that main effects of variety and media significantly (P < 0.01) influenced plant height, leaf area index (LAI), 1000-kernels weight, grain and biomass yields, while harvest index (HI) was affected only by priming media. Sorghum seeds primed with N media recorded the highest values in plant height (162cm), LAI (4), grain yield (3888 kg ha-1) and HI (0.41), whereas, Zn primed seeds recorded the highest biomass yield (9457 kg ha-1). The effect of interaction between variety and media was significant only on panicle weight where Zn priming in variety Melkam gave the highest panicle weight (82 g), while the lowest from Dekeba in unprimed seed (71 g). Among varieties, Teshale gave the highest grain (3713 kg ha-1) and biomass (9400.64 kg ha-1) yields, while the highest 1000-kernel weight recorded in variety Melkam. Overall, the results indicated nutrient priming with N or Zn performed better than hydropriming in all the traits studied. Therefore, it can be concluded that seed priming with either N or Zn was effective for better establishment, growth, and yield of sorghum under rainfed production of semi-arid lowlands of eastern Ethiopia.

Keywords: Hydro-priming, nutrient-priming, priming media, stand establishment, variety