Introduction:

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) is one of the most of the family Malvaceae (Naveed et al., 2009). It is a
popular summer crop. Okra are nutritious but might have poor seedling emergence and vigor. Okra seeds
does not germinate below 200C. The slow and uneven germination of okra seed is the main hurdle in the
early spring planting (Pandita et al., 2010). The percentage of seed germination of okra is relatively low,
due to occurrence of hard seededness in this plant (Felipe et al., 2010). As the seed matured and by
decreasing its moisture content, the percentage of hard seededness increased. Seed moisture content is
another factor that has effect on seed hardness (El-Balla et al., 2011). Okrapods are a good source of
flavonoid antioxidants like beta carotene, xanthein and lutein (Dilruba et al., 2009). Seed priming is pre-
sowing treatment used as a technique to enhance seed performance, notably with respect to rate and
uniformity of germination (Taylor and Vananen, 1998), thereby improving seedling stand and enabling
better crop establishment (Job et al., 2000). It is a simple, low cost and effective approach for early
seedling growth and yield under stressed and non-stressed conditions. Priming allows some of the
metabolic processes to occur necessarily for germination before actual germination to get start. Priming
triggers the synthesis or activation of some enzymes that catalyze the mobilization of storage reserves in
seed, while endosperm weakens by hydrolase activities. Priming may increase resistance to abiotic
stresses (Farooq et al., 2008). Priming could enhance the activity of anti-oxidative systems, resulting in
lower rate of lipid peroxidation, contributing to seed invigoration and allows some of the metabolic
process for germination to occur. Okra farmers in Punjab and other Northern states have a major problem
of seeds not promptly germinating after planting. In order to address the problem of poor germination,
as well as to evaluate the best soaking sources and priming period for okra the present study was carried
out to study the effect of seed priming treatment on germination of okra. The objective of this study was
to increase germination percentage, decreasing mean germination time and improving seedling growth
with seed priming treatments and soaking durations at very wide range of favoured and unfavoured
environmental conditions.

Okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench], belonging to family Malvaceae, is a native of Tropical Africa.
The crop is highly nutritious and considered as a source of valuable nutrients. It is also called “a perfect
villager’s vegetable” due to its robust nature, dietary fibres and distinct seed protein, balanced in both
lysine and tryptophan amino acids (Kumaret al., 2010). The immature fruits are used for consumption
purpose while the dried seeds, roasted or grounded, are used as coffee additive or substitute. Moreover,
okra mucilage is suitable for medicinal and industrial applications. It medicinally used as plasma
replacement or blood volume expander. Industrially, okra mucilage is usually used to glace certain papers
and also useful in confectionary (Benchasri, 2012). Okra is an annual vegetable crop cultivated in tropical
and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia. It thrives well in the hot humid season. It is mainly grown as a
summer and rainy season crop in India (Baloch, 1994). Okra seeds best germinate at temperature range
of 25-35°C (Chauhan, 1972). In contrast, when these okra seeds are sown in early spring season, they
show poor germination due to low temperature. This reduced, delayed and erratic emergence is a serious
problem in okra cultivation in early spring season as it creates problem in uniform field stand and rapid
germination. Another major problem in germination of okra seeds is hard seed coat which restricts the
water imbibition and uniform growth and development of embryo (Mereddy et al., 2000). The seed
hardness interferes with seed germination (Mahmoudi et al., 2012). This problem of germination in okra
can be overcome by many techniques and seed priming is one of them. Seed priming is a pre-sowing seed
treatment in which seeds are allowed to imbibe water to start pre-germinative metabolic processes but
insufficient for radical protrusion. The activity of many enzymes involved in mobilization of food reserves
is triggered (Srinivasan et al., 2009). After priming, seeds are dried back to its original moisture content to
enable normal handling, storage and planting (Varier et al., 2010). But before priming any crop seeds, the
knowledge of safe limits of priming duration is very important to get maximum effect. Priming not only
improves the seed germination under sub-optimum temperature but also helps to soften the hard seed
coat. Seed deterioration can be controlled through priming prior to storage because priming activates
antioxidant enzymes examples like catalase, peroxidase, superoxidase and lowers per-oxidation in seed
(Rahman et al., 2013). “On farm” seed priming which entails soaking seeds, overnight, before sowing is a
simple technology that farmers can use to improve crop establishment and increase yield (Harris, 2010).
In the present study, hydropriming was used as a method of seed priming. Hydropriming is achieved by
continuous or successive addition of a limited amount of water to the seeds. Hydropriming is a very
important technique which results in rapid germination and uniform stand establishment in various crops
(Adebisi et al., 2013). Seed germination and seedling growth has been reported to be improved through
the process of hydropriming. Hydropriming improved the field performance of barley and chickpea
(Rashid et al., 2006; Ghassemi-Golezami et al., 2008). It is a very simple, economical and environment
friendly technique because simple water is used.

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) (Moench) a member of the family Malvaceae and is native of South
Africa and Asia. It is an annual fruit vegetable crop grown in tropical and subtropical parts of the world.
Although okra is primarily a rainfed crop, it also comes up well under irrigated conditions during kharif
and summer seasons. In India, it is grown for tender fruits, which are vegetable. These tender fruits can
be dehydrated and marketed for vegetable purpose. The green tender fruits of okra are highly nutritious
vegetable containing 1107 mg of calcium and 8.9 mg of Iron for every 1000 g edible portion and fair
amount of vitamins viz., A, B and C. It is also rich in protein and crude fibre (Sona Thampi and Indira, 2000).
Recently an attention has been given to the use of okra seeds as a source of proteins (about 20% of dry
matter) and vegetable oil (about 14 per cent of dry matter). Seeds contain mainly monounsaturated fatty
acids (oleic) and palmitic acid (Martin and Rhodes, 1983) and their high lysine level (Al-Wandawi, 1983).
Sometime, the seeds are roasted and used as a substitute for coffee. It is a potential export earner
accounting for 60 per cent of exported fresh vegetable (Sharma and Arora, 1993). Apart from it’s nutritive
value the stem and fruit sheath used in the manufacture of paper as they contain more of the crude fibre.
Rapid germination and emergence is an important determinant of successful establishment (Heydecker
et al., 1973, 1975). Harris et al. (1999) reported seed priming as one of the most important developments
to help rapid and uniform germination and emergence of seeds and to increase seed tolerance to adverse
environmental conditions. Seed priming has presented promising, and even surprising results, for many
crop seeds (Bradford, 1986). The few studies on okra are not overemphasized and are encouraging, but
more information is required before its use as a routine practice in seed technology (Knypl and Khan,
1981). Seed priming is basically a pre-sowing seed treatment. However, osmoprimed seeds may be dried
back to their initial moisture content and stored for variable periods of time depending on the species.
Primed and dried seeds normally have a more rapid and uniform germination when subsequently re-
hydrated, especially under adverse environmental conditions (Bradford, 1986). The mechanism of seed
drying after chemical priming is known as the hydration-dehydration process or dry back and is used to
reduce the degree of moisture in seeds to levels compatible with storage and maintaining the beneficial
effects of the treatment, without quality loss caused by rapid seed deterioration. The advantage of seed
priming is reducing the germination time and improving emergence in field and laboratory conditions.
However, few detailed studies have been reported on the performance of osmotically treated seeds under
field conditions. Sanjaykumar et al. (1996) reported that priming of aged seeds of okra resulted in good
germination and establishment in the field trials. The benefits of seed priming in all crops included, faster
emergence, more and uniform stands, less need to re-sow, more vigorous plants, drought tolerance,
earlier flowering, earlier harvest maturity and higher seed yield.

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) is one of the most widely known dicotyledonous plants and utilized
species of the family Malvaceae (Naveed et al., 2009). It is a popular summer crop. Okra are nutritious but
might have poor seedling emergence and vigor. Okra seeds does not germinate below 200C. The slow and
uneven germination of okra seed is the main hurdle in the early spring planting (Pandita et al., 2010). The
percentage of seed germination of okra is relatively low, due to occurrence of hard seededness in this
plant (Felipe et al., 2010). As the seed matured and by decreasing its moisture content, the percentage of
hard seededness increased. Seed moisture content is another factor that has effect on seed hardness (El-
Balla et al., 2011). Okrapods are a good source of flavonoid antioxidants like beta carotene, xanthein and
lutein (Dilruba et al., 2009). Seed priming is pre-sowing treatment used as a technique to enhance seed
performance, notably with respect to rate and uniformity of germination (Taylor and Vananen, 1998),
thereby improving seedling stand and enabling better crop establishment (Job et al., 2000). It is a simple,
low cost and effective approach for early seedling growth and yield under stressed and non-stressed
conditions. Priming allows some of the metabolic processes to occur necessarily for germination before
actual germination to get start. Priming triggers the synthesis or activation of some enzymes that catalyze
the mobilization of storage reserves in seed, while endosperm weakens by hydrolase activities. Priming
may increase resistance to abiotic stresses (Farooq et al., 2008). Priming could enhance the activity of
anti-oxidative systems, resulting in lower rate of lipid peroxidation, contributing to seed invigoration and
allows some of the metabolic process for germination to occur.

Antioxidant likes salicylic acid (SA) has also proved for alleviating salinity stress in wheat (Afzal et al., 2005).
Salicylic acid is an endogenous growth regulator of phenolic nature influencing a range of diverse
processes in plants including seed germination (Cutt & Klessig, 1992), ion uptake and transport (Harper &
Balke, 1981), membrane permeability (Barkosky & Einhellig, 1993), stomatal closure (Larqué- Saavedra,
1979), photosynthesis and growth rate (Khan et al., 2003). In addition, salicylic acid also induces an
increase in resistance of seedlings to osmotic stress (Borsani et al., 2001), high or low temperature by
activation of glutathione reductase and guaiacol peroxidase (Kang & Saltveit, 2002). The aimed of
experiment was conducted to explore the role of salicylic acid seed priming in improving emergence, and
viability of okra seeds.

Plant growth regulators like auxins, gibberellins and cytokinins are used in the agriculture for better
growth and yield responses ultimately affecting crop production (Briant, 1974; Srivastava and Sachan,
1971). Gibberellins (GAs) mediate many responses in plants from seed germination to the senescence
(Davies, 1995). The most widely available compound is a gibberellic acid (GA3) which induces stem and
internode elongation, seed germination, enzyme production during germination, and fruit setting and
growth (Dijkstra and Kuiper, 1989; Ross et al., 1990; Davies, 1995). GA3 is a natural growth hormone and
is a part of a type of plant hormones called gibberellins. GA3 promotes cell division and a number of plant
development mechanisms and encourages numerous desirable effects such as plant height, uniform
flowering, reduced time to flowering and increased flower number and size (Srivastava and Srivastava,
2007). Foliar application of gibberellic acid modified also plant growth and pod characteristics (Asghar et
al., 1997).
Problems:

Germination and seedling emergence are the critical stages in the plant life cycle. Insufficient seedling
emergence and inappropriate stand establishment are the main constraints in the production of crops
which receiving less rainfall. In okra seed, slow and erratic emergence is the main problem which results
in low fertilizer efficiency, unsynchronized harvesting and ultimate low yield. The main goal of this
research work was to overcome the problem of slow and erratic emergence in okra seed through seed
priming and to find out optimum seed priming duration, osmotic potential and priming agent for okra
seed priming.

Rational:

Seed priming is a pre-sowing seed treatment in which seed is allowed to imbibe enough water to start
pre- germinative metabolic processes but insufficient for radicle protrusion because with radicle
protrusion seed loses its desiccation tolerance (Posmyk et al., 2001). After hydration, treated seeds are
dried back to their initial moisture content. This drying back process is called hydration dehydration and
is practiced to minimize deterioration in seed during storage. Priming improves seed germination
performance by starting early processes of germination but not cell division (Yuan et al., 2010).
Metabolism that occurs during pri- ming is not enough to cause radicle emergence (McDonald, 2000).
There are two types of seed priming, in one type water penetrate freely into seed which is called hydro-
priming while in other type seed hydration is controlled. If controlled hydration is achieved through the
addition of solute to water then it is called osmopriming or if a solid mat- rix is used to provide controlled
seed hydration then it is called solid matrix priming (Pill and Necker, 2001). Seed priming improves germi-
nation performance of seed (Kausar et al., 2009). Osmopriming streng- thens the antioxidant system and
increases seed germination potential, resulting in an increased stress tolerance in germinating seeds
(Chen and Arora, 2011). Response of seed to priming is affected by priming dura- tion, osmotic potential
of priming solution (Arif et al., 2008), priming agent (Farooq et al., 2005) and oxygen supply to seed
(Nascimento, 2003).