Journal of Experimental Agriculture International

This research was conducted to test the benefits of priming treatment and its effects on the pre-treatment germination percentages of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) seed lots. Germination percentages of 12 pepper seed lots which ranged between 66 and 98% before treatment were treated with 2% of KNO₃ solution for 4 days at 20°C. Seed germination percentages, mean germination time, seedling emergence percentages, mean emergence time and seeds that germinated but were unable to emerge from the soil were determined. The treatment was found to be more successful on germination and emergence of seed lots with low germination percentages than those with high germination percentages. The differences between treated and untreated lots concerning all these criteria were higher in lower quality seed lots compared to those of higher quality. Priming reduced the percentage of seeds that germinated in the soil but unable to emerge. Results showed that priming is more useful for enhancing germination of low quality seed lots than higher quality ones which indicates that repair of ageing is one of the primary advantage of the priming treatments. Priming is therefore a suitable pre-sowing treatment that can be used to enhance the quality of left over and relatively lower quality seeds.