Effects of various seed priming on morphological, physiological, and biochemical traits of rice under chilling stress

Introduction/Background Direct-seeded rice is exceptionally vulnerable to chilling stress, especially at the seed germination and seedling growth stages in the early season of the double cropping system. Methods Therefore, we conducted two experiments to evaluate the role of various seed primings and their different concentrations of plant growth regulators [experiment 1—abscisic acid (ABA), gibberellin (GA 3 ), salicylic acid (SA), brassinolide (BR), paclobutrazol, uniconazole (UN), melatonin (MT), and jasmonic acid (JA)] and osmopriming substances (chitosan, polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG6000), and CaCl 2 ) and experiment 2—GA, BR (two best), CaCl 2 (worst), and control (CK)] on rice seedlings under low temperature condition. Results Results showed that the maximum germination rate of 98% was recorded in GA 3 (10 mgL −1 ) and BR (0.3 mgL −1 ) among treatments. Compared to CK, root and shoot length were improved in ABA (0.5 mgL −1 ) and GA 3 (100 mgL −1 ) by 64% and 68%, respectively. At the same time, root and shoot weights (fresh and dry) were enhanced in Paclobutrazol (300 mgL −1 ) and GA3 among treatments. Furthermore, the average root volume, average root diameter, and total root surface area were increased by 27%, 38%, and 33% in Paclobutrazol (300 mgL −1 ), Paclobutrazol (200 mgL −1 ) and JA (1 mgL −1 ) treatments, respectively compared to CK. In the second experiment, a respective increase of 26%, 19%, 38%, and 59% was noted in SOD, POD, CAT, and APX enzyme activities in GA treatment compared to CK. Similarly, proline, soluble sugar, soluble protein, and GA content were also improved by 42%, 25.74%, 27%, and 19%, respectively, in GA treatment compared to CK. However, a respective reduction of 21% and 18% was noted in MDA and ABA content in GA treatment compared to CK. Our finding highlighted that better germination of primed-rice seedlings was associated with fresh and dry weights of the roots and shoots and the average root volume of the seedlings. Discussion Our results suggested that GA 3 (10 mg L −1 ) and BR (0.3 mg L −1 ) seed priming prevent rice seedlings from chilling-induced oxidative stress by regulating antioxidant enzyme activities and maintaining ABA, GA, MDA, soluble sugar, and protein content. However, further studies (transcriptome and proteome) are needed to explore the molecular mechanisms involved in seed priming-induced chilling tolerance under field conditions.