Hormonal priming alleviates salt stress in hot Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.)

Germination and seedling establishment are critical stages in the life cycle of plants especially under stress conditions. Different methodologies have been adopted by plant physiologists in different crops to alleviate salt stress. Seed priming has proven beneficial in this regard in many important agricultural crops. The effect of seed priming with salicylic acid (SA) and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) in improving seed vigour and salt tolerance of hot pepper seedlings was evaluated. Concentrations over 1.0 mM of ASA or SA showed adverse effects on seed emergence. Seeds primed with SA (0.8 mM) and ASA (0.2 mM) were sown in medium at different salinity levels [0, 3, 6 and 9 dS m-1]. Both, SA and ASA treatments showed significantly better results over the control by improvement in time taken to 50% emergence, final emergence percentage, root and shoot length, seedling fresh and dry weight and seedling vigour. Overall, acetylsalicylic acid exhibited superiority over salicylic acid. Our results indicate that hormonal priming, especially with acetylsalicylic acid, can be a good treatment for hot pepper to enhance uniformity of emergence and seedling establishment under normal as well as saline conditions.