Influence of some chemical compounds on germination and early seedling growth of two range species under allelopathic conditions

Seed priming technique has been known to improve germination and seedling emergence under different environment stresses. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of seed priming in improving the seed germination and seedling vigor of Agropyron elongatum and Bromus inermis in response to five concentrations of the allelopathic extract of Thymus kotschyanus (0, 5%, 25%, 50% and 75%) under laboratory conditions. Pretreatments included gibberellic acid (250, 500 and 1000 ppm), potassium nitrate (0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3%) and salicylic acid (100, 200 and 300 mg/L). This experiment was carried out as a factorial experiment based on a completely randomized design with four replications. The results showed that seed germination, germination speed and seedling vigor were significantly decreased (P < 0.01) by increasing extract concentrations of Thymus kotschyanus allelopathic compounds in unprimed seed (control) compared with primed seeds. Seed priming enhanced germination percentage, germination speed and initial growth. Overall, the results of this study showed that the response of both species to pretreatment of seeds was positive. Therefore, pretreatments of seeds with the aforementioned chemical stimulators before planting can significantly reduce the negative effect of allelopathic compounds in Thymus kotschyanus during the germination stage and contribute to plant establishment by increasing germination speed and growth of embryos.