Document Type : Research paper
Authors
General Science Department, Faculty of Education, Soran University, Soran, Erbil, Kurdistan Regional Government, Iraq
Abstract
Cucumber is widely cultivated worldwide, occupying significant agricultural acreage. The present research aims to evaluate the seed priming potential of Vegetal Protein Hydrolysate (VPH) to improve early seedling growth and seed germination of cucumber. We assessed two concentrations of VPH (2 and 4 ml/L) under normal and salt stress conditions, with water serving as the control treatment. The experiment was performed conducted in a completely randomized factorial design. The cucumber seeds were primed for 4, 8, and 12 hoursh, followed by observing seed germination traits, including germination rate index, mean germination time, germination percentage, vigorous index-2, and early seedling growth traits. Based on the results, VPH treatments with low concertation significantly affect morphological cucumber seed germination. We found the apparent priming potential of VPH to improve early seedling growth and seed germination in cucumbers in with different morphological features. Seed priming with VPH significantly improved germination traits and chlorophyll in salt stress conditions compared to the control treatment. The results showed that the seed germination was affected by priming durations of 4 and 8 h. However, the extended exposure to the same concentration (12 h) inhibited the seed germination process, thereby inducing higher stress on the seedlings. Hence, VPH seed priming is proposed as a bio-stimulant for enhancing early seedling growth and seed germination in cucumbers. Overall, tThese results can be used to prepare vegetal protein-based compounds and and improve vegetable production under greenhouse production units and plastic tunnels.
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