When we want to produce large amounts of plants or simply when we want to start our gardens fast and get

the most out of our purchases improving seed germination becomes a large priority. One of the largest concerns of world agriculture as well as the home grower is the decrease in germination time and increase in germination percentage since both of these factors can bring great benefits. Some seeds especially some flowers and herbs are often quite difficult to germinate and using certain techniques to increase the rate and speed in which they sprout has been the focus of a large amount of scientific research. To understand the concept of priming we first need a good grasp at the general concept of seed germination. A seed is a dormant embryo which carries within it the potential for a new plants life. The seed is alive yet has a very slow metabolic rate due to the low mobility of substances within the embryos cells. This low metabolic rate allows the seed to remain alive yet survive e!tremely long periods of time "some seeds can survive even hundreds of years# before actually sprouting into new plants. $ermination which is the process in which we awa%en the embryo increases seed metabolism and toggles the massive reproduction that causes a new plant to grow. The main mechanism that triggers this process is simply liquid water. When water gets into the embryo and hydrates its cells it speeds up metabolism and allows the process of cell division and growth to rapidly increase. &owever it is not always this simple to start this process since several impairments both chemical and physical can e!ist for successful germination. 'riming is simply a process done prior to conventional seed germination which allows the inhibiting mechanism to be bro%en and the metabolic speed increase to begin. There are several types of priming that can be done. A seed can be submerged in simple water "hydropriming# it can be soa%ed in a solution of a simple salt "halopriming# or it can be set in a non(ionic solution with high osmotic pressure "osmopriming#. )t is not entirely well established why one technique might wor% better than another but certainly some species tend to respond much more efficiently to one or another. (

( )n general priming offers the opportunity to almost always germinate seeds at much higher speeds without detrimental effects in germination percentages. *or e!ample a two day treatment of parsley seeds with a '+$ ,--- "'oly+thylene$lycol# solution can reduce germination times

substantially from a few wee%s to .ust a few days. Other seeds such as coriander might also benefit from similar treatments with '+$ or with treatments with /a0l solutions. )n general if you are loo%ing to test priming on some difficult seeds you own you can try three small e!periments to %now which one wor%s best for your particular seed variety and germination conditions. 1o one e!periment in which the seeds are simply soa%ed in water for 23 hours another in which seeds are placed in a 2--mg45 /a0l solution and another one in which the plants are submerged in a '+$ ,--- 2-6 solution then let the seeds air(dry after the treatments. After comparing the results of these e!periments with a control with no priming you will be able to see which priming technique is better for you and most effectively increases your seed germination rates. To sum it up priming your seeds is a very efficient technique to increase the speed of germination without sacrificing germination rates. This methods are not very useful for seeds such as lettuce or tomato which germinate easily but they are invaluable for plants such as parsley coriander or carrots which are generally much harder to germinate. )f you have some seeds that have been giving you a hard time or seem to ta%e ages to germinate then setting up some priming e!periments might be the best thing to do

$ermination progresses through a series of potentially reversible steps as the physiology of the seed "embryo# gradually changes "'into et al. 2--7#. In situ restoration is hampered by aspects

of seed quality that interfere with the establishment of seedlings. The level of seed dormancy in the population is one such problem with implications for the number of seedlings emerging from a cohort and the vigour of the responders. 8eduction of dormancy and enhanced capability for rapid germination prior to sowing seeds for restoration will benefit the speed of restoration. We have investigated how pre(hydration including through priming alters the physiological competency of seeds. Seed priming is a treatment applied before sowing seeds which typically includes application of osmotic stress to the seeds prior to drying bac%. These dried bac% seeds can then be sowed and usually display reduced dormancy and improved seedling quality. This technology is widely used in the seed industry for crops but has the potential to also benefit in situ restoration. 9pon characteri:ation of germination and dormancy of a ;ra:ilian 0errado species the response of these seeds to priming was investigated. *inal germination was higher while germination speed and uniformity were greatly improved. An interesting observation was that not only dormancy was reduced but that also seedling quality was improved "Anese et al. 2-<<#. )n addition altered gene e!pression as a result of priming is under investigation to understand which genes play a role in the improved germination performance "Antunes et al. 2-<<#. )f pre(hydration 4 priming occurs under conditions too close to the water potential for germination then the seed physiology can change= not .ust in terms of germination per se but also desiccation tolerance in which case drying bac% becomes a challenge. *or nine neo(tropical species studied we observed that all seeds in a seed lot lost desiccation tolerance after the same fi!ed proportion of their hydration time to germination and this proportion was fairly constant across the species "-.,>-.7-# "1aws et al. 2--7#. /onetheless it is possible in some species to re(induce desiccation tolerance in seeds as long as treatment is applied shortly after radicle emergence upon e!posure to osmotic stress similar to that applied during seed priming. Studying this phenomenon creates further understanding of the seedling development program. )n Tabebuia impetiginosa a member of the ;ignoniaceae family and a native tree of the tropical Americas an improved survival response of the germinated seeds was demonstrated upon cold shoc% heat shoc% and e!ogenous abscisic acid in addition to the applied osmotic stress "?ieira et al. 2-<-#. The degree of survival depends on the origin of the accession= those from drier habitats display more post(germination desiccation tolerance than accessions from wetter habitats. These results indicate that natural variation e!ists for this physiological phenomenon serving a role in adaptation to irregular precipitation patterns at the start of the wet season. 8esearch is underway to understand how seed priming and environmental stress factors could benefit in situ restoration efforts.