Seed Priming Improves Growth and Yield of Moisture-Stressed Rice at Tillering Stage

Moisture stress is among the major banes against production of rice at self-sufficient level. Different growth stages of rice are affected differently by moisture stress. Therefore, we conducted a study to determine the potential of seed priming in alleviating moisture stress in rice at tillering stage. The priming treatments used were 100mM calcium chloride dehydrate, 40% (w/v)polyethylene glycol (PEG)6000 and 100ppm kinetin. Pre-germination which is the farmers' practice was used as the control. We assessed the plants on number of tillers, productive tillers, tillering efficiency and sterility, number of spikelets, filled spikelets, 100 grain weight, grain yield, harvest index, chlorophyll and proline concentration, net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, inter cellular carbon dioxide and transpiration rate. We found that one day priming with 100ppm kinetin conferred better tolerance against moisture stress and produced higher grain yield than the rest treatments at tillering stage. The outcome of this research is that by using one-day priming with 100ppm kinetin for production of MR219, we can save water at tillering stage and use the saved water for nurturing the plants at booting stage which is ultra-sensitive to water stress.