Seed priming improves Salvia hispanica L. seed performance under salt stress

ABSTRACT Salvia hispanica L. is an alternative crop cultivated by farmers who want to diversify their production. However, this species is sensitive to salinity, which affects its germination negatively. Seed priming with different attenuators is a technique with potential to mitigate the effects of salt stress. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of seed priming with the use of different attenuators on the germination, growth, and organic solute accumulation of S. hispanica seedlings under salt stress. The experimental design was completely randomized, with treatments distributed in a 4 × 5 factorial scheme, corresponding to four seed priming treatments and five osmotic potentials, with four replicates of 50 seeds in each treatment. The seed treatments consisted of presoaking seeds for 4h in salicylic acid, gibberellic acid, and distilled water and the control treatment, which did not involve soaking. These seeds were germinated at osmotic potentials of 0.0, -0.1, -0.2, -0.3, and -0.4 MPa, using NaCl as an osmotic agent to simulate the different salinity levels. Among all the treatments implemented, S. hispanica seed priming with salicylic acid was the most efficient in mitigating the salt stress effects.