**3.2 Priming effects on seed germination and seedling establishment of**  *C. sanguinolenta*

Seed priming is the process of hydrating seeds in water or synthetic compounds to kick start metabolic processes of germination and for the physiological conditioning of plants [51, 52]. Seed priming techniques include osmo-priming, bio priming, halo


*G = germinability, MT = mean germination time, CV1 = coefficient of variation of the germination time, MR = mean germination rate,*

#### **Table 4.**

*Mean seed germination measurements of* Cryptolepis sanguinolenta *per priming treatment.*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108249 Conservation and Sustainable Use of C*ryptolepis sanguinolenta

#### **Figure 4.**

*Mean plant height (a) and mean number of leaves (B) of* Cryptolepis sanguinolenta *seedlings at 8,10,12 and 14 weeks after sowing. The bars illustrated on the graph are LSD bars. KNO3 (potassium nitrate), PEG (polyethylene glycol 8000), 70% E + 50% B (70% ethanol +50% bleach).*

priming, hydro and matric priming [53]. Some factors influence the priming process and time, seedling vigor, plant development, and germination rate which include; plant species, priming duration, temperature, priming media, oxygen supply, aeration, light and storage conditions [54]. Seed priming provides faster and uniform germination [55] (Dawood, 2018), controls seed dormancy [56], increases percentage germination [57], increases water use efficiency in plants [58], reduces seed borne disease incidence [59], and increases crop yield [60].

Seed priming has been shown to offer the above-mentioned advantages in different crops such as wheat [61], sweet corn [62], mung bean [63], barley [64], lentil [65], and cucumber [66]. Hence, priming of *C. sanguinolenta* seeds could be a promising and effective technique in promoting germination and seedling establishment. A study on the effect of priming on germinability of seeds, growth and development of *C. sanguinolenta* seedlings was carried out.

A Completely Randomized Design with nine treatments (dH20, 0.5% KNO3, 0.1% KNO3, 1% KNO3, 70% Ethanol +50% Bleach, −0.2PEG 8000, −0.5PEG 8000, 3% Hydrogen Peroxide, Control), replicated three times was used. Germination measurements (germinability, synchronization, uniformity, mean germination rate, mean germination time, and co-efficient of variation) were obtained on approximately 3 months old seeds [49, 50]. Seedling parameters (including; plant height, plant girth, number of leaves, and chlorophyll content) were measured. Data was analyzed using GenStat software 19th edition.

The study identified 0.1% KNO3 as a promising priming agent for improving the germinability of *C. sanguinolenta* seeds, however this was not significantly different from the unprimed (control) seeds (**Table 4**). Seeds primed with hydrogen peroxide rather recorded the lowest germination percentage.

Further evaluation of *C. sanguinolenta* seedlings indicated that the different priming agents used significantly influenced the plant height and number of leaves of the seedlings.

Distilled water treated seeds had the highest seedling parameters except for chlorophyll content in the leaves (**Figure 4**). Hence, priming seeds with distilled water could be used to improve seedling parameters of *C. sanguinolenta*, Other priming agents such as KNO3 could be used to improve the germinability of the seeds.
