Seed Priming as a Strategy to Improve Wheat Productivity Under Abiotic Stress: Global Meta-analysis

Seed priming was documented to effectively enhance crop performance with ultimate better yield under a wide range of environmental conditions. The current meta-analysis summarizes the findings of 2394 observations collected from 68 articles indexed on Web of Science database about the impact of different priming techniques on wheat yield under different forms of abiotic stress. Economic yield (EY), biological yield (BY), and thousand-kernel mass (TKM) were the yield parameters extracted from the analyzed articles. Heterogeneity test indicated high consistency of the collected observations. Analysis metrics revealed general enhancement of EY of stressed wheat plants by 29%, BY by 22%, and TKM by 16% due to seed priming. Under stress, redox halopriming caused the maximum enhancement in both EY and BY, while osmopriming caused the maximum enhancement in TKM. Moreover, seed priming caused the maximum enhancement in both EY and BY under alkali stress; and the maximum enhancement in TKM under heavy metal stress. The current meta-analysis thus emphasizes the efficiency of seed priming in improving wheat yield under stress with recommending further exploit of redox halopriming, nanopriming, and thermopriming in this aspect especially under cold stress.

Automated summary

Seed priming has been proven to effectively enhance crop performance, with different priming techniques showing varying degrees of impact. Redox halopriming, nanopriming, and thermopriming are recommended for further improving wheat yield under stress conditions.