Review Article
Anish Choudhury
Anish Choudhury
Department
of Seed Science and Technology, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur,
Nadia West Bengal, India.
Sanjoy Kumar Bordolui
Sanjoy Kumar Bordolui
Corresponding
Author
Department of Seed Science and Technology, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia West Bengal, India.
E mail: sanjoy_bordolui@rediffmail.com
Abstract
Plants
exposing abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, heat, cold, and heavy
metals that induce complex responses ultimately result in reduced growth as
well as crop yield. Phytohormones are widely known for their regulatory
functions in controlling plant growth and development. They also act as significant
chemical messengers, enabling plants to survive when subjected to a variety of
stressors. Nowadays various strategies are employed that can withstand these emergences. In recent years, seed
priming has been an indispensable method to induce tolerance against various
stresses. The seed
priming process is a physiological method that involves hydration for
enhancement of seed germination, early seedling growth, and yield under
stressed and non-stressed conditions. The seedlings
emerging from primed seeds showed early and uniform germination. Moreover, the
overall growth of plant is enhanced due to the seed-priming treatments with phytohormone which
have become a significant
strategy for reducing the impacts of abiotic stress. Therefore, this review analyses the potentiality of priming with several
phytohormones to mitigate the negative impacts of abiotic stresses, for
improving crop productivity.
Abstract Keywords
Abiotic tolerant, phytohormones, plant
growth, priming
1. Introduction
There are some of the major kinds of stresses like heat, drought, cold,
and salt stress that crops usually face under adverse weather or soil
conditions. Disturbance in equilibrium which produces changes in physiological
parameters, and due to stress plant’s chemical and physiological changes occur
is called stress [1]. In most plants, stress
causes a variety of biochemical, physiological, and metabolic changes [2], which may result in
oxidative stress and affect plant metabolism, performance, and thereby yield [3]. Abiotic stresses are often interrelated, either individually or in
combination; they cause morphological, physiological, biochemical, and
molecular changes that affect plant growth and development and ultimately
yield. In the present era of global climate change, abiotic stresses are
becoming more prevalent. The increasing threat of climate change is already having a substantial impact on
agricultural production worldwide causing significant unpredictable loss in
agriculture [4] and threat to global food security [5].
Plants are subjected to a variety of abiotic stress such as
salinity, drought, high temperature, low temperature, etc.
which reduces germination rate and seedling growth
with significant variations from crop to crop [6].
Salinity has an adverse effect on seed germination and seedling
growth of several crops either by creating an osmotic potential in the
rhizosphere of the plant that inhibits the absorption of water or creates toxic
effects to the roots and whole crop because of
Na+ and Cl− [7, 8]. Drought is one of the most important environmental factors limiting
plant growth and productivity. With the increase of drought severity, the drought severity increased, the germination rate
linearly decreased in unprimed cotton seeds [9].
Low-temperature conditions
decreased plant growth rate because of inhibition of photosynthesis and
increasing photo-oxidative injury of the photosystems [10].
Photo-oxidative damage caused lipid peroxidation and degradation of
chlorophyll and carotene [110]. Plants exert
many physiological and biochemical changes under low-temperature conditions
that make them survive under these conditions [10]. Heat
stress is often defined as the rise in temperature beyond a
threshold level for a period of time sufficient to cause irreversible damage to
plant growth and development. The extent to which it
occurs in specific climatic zones depends on the probability and period of high
temperatures occurring during the day and/or the night [11]. Thus, abiotic
stress causes many physiological and biochemical changes in the seedlings,
which include the generation of reactive oxygen species [ROS], leading to
membrane damage and cell leakage and destruction of photosynthetic components [12].
Various methodologies
were adapted from time to time to achieve tolerance against stresses. These
include conventional breeding methods such as selection and hybridization and
modern methods such as mutation breeding, genetic engineering, etc. [12]. Attempts were also made to produce transgenic plants which can
withstand various kinds of stresses [12].
But these methods are time-consuming and
demand skills and involve legal and ethical issues. The alternative solution
would be more acceptable if it is simple, cost-effective, and can be adopted by
the farmers without any complication, and at the same time, it should be
effective in manifesting the tolerance.
Seed priming is one such farmer’s
friendly technique recommended by many researchers for better crop stand
establishment and growth even under adverse conditions. It is a simple, safe, economic, and effective approach for enhancement
of seed germination, early seedling growth and yield under stressed and
non-stressed conditions [13]. In
plant defence, priming is defined as a physiological process by which a plant
prepares to respond to imminent abiotic stress more quickly or aggressively.
The priming process
induces the rate of seed germination and is associated with the initiation of
germination-related processes [14] and repair processes [15]
and increases various free
radical-scavenging enzymes, such as catalase, and peroxidase [16]. Several
seed priming methods were successfully used in agriculture for seed
conditioning to accelerate the germination rate and improve the seedling
uniformity [17, 18]. Moreover, seed priming helps many crops to neutralize the adverse
effects of abiotic stress [19]. The various approaches of seed priming are hydro priming,
osmopriming, chemical priming, hormonal priming, biological priming, redox
priming, solid matrix priming, etc. [111]. Among these techniques, seed priming with phytohormones (hormonal priming) has emerged as a
promising strategy in modern stress management as it protects plants against
various abiotic stresses by increasing the level of antioxidant
enzyme activity, decreasing oxidative damage, and enhancing plant growth. Priming for enhanced resistance to
abiotic stress is operating via various pathways involved in different
metabolic processes. It is known that seed priming can activate these signalling
pathways in the early stages of growth and result in faster plant defence
responses. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to summarise the
understanding of the regulation mechanism against abiotic stresses through
hormonal priming to mitigate the losses occurred in crop production in future.
2. Materials
and methods
Relevant literature on hormonal Seed Priming was composed for plant growth and
yield attributing activities released up to January 2023. The literature has
been searched on the hormonal priming activity of the different phytohormones
on different crops. The main keywords were: abiotic tolerant, phytohormones,
plant growth,
priming, yield etc. GoogleScholar®, ResearchGate®,
Web of Science®,
PubMed, SciFindern and Scopus® were
used as electronic search tools for articles with the several definite
keywords. We have reviewed only the manuscripts which are relevant to this
article.
3. Results and discussion
3.1
Phytohormones
Plant hormones are known as
phytohormones or plant growth regulators (PGRs). These are chemical molecules
produced by plants and have important roles in regulating plant growth and development
(Fig. 1). Phytohormones function as important chemical messengers and modulate
many cellular processes in plants and can coordinate different signalling
pathways during exposure to abiotic stresses [20, 21]. Auxins (IAAs),
cytokinins (CKs), gibberellins [GAs], abscisic acid (ABA), salicylic acid [SA],
and ethylene (ET) are well known phytohormones, essential for plant growth and
development [22, 23].
Figure 1. Schematic model showing possible effects of seed
priming with phytohormones [24]
3.2
Hormonal priming
Seed priming with hormone solutions
is referred to as hormonal priming, and hormonal seed priming plays an
important role in seed metabolism [24]. Seeds are pre-soaked with an
optimal concentration of phytohormone, which enhances germination, seedling
growth and yield by increasing nutrient uptake through enhanced physiological
activities and root production [25, 26]. Commonly used plant growth regulators in seed priming are IAAs, CKs, GAs,
ABA, SA, and ET.
3.3 Auxins
The role
of auxin in plant development is well known; however, its possible function in
response to various stresses is poorly understood (Fig. 2). Several studies
demonstrate a novel role of auxin signalling and transport in plant tolerance
to abiotic stress [27]. Seed priming with IAAs enhances cell division, photosynthetic
activities, and translocation of carbohydrates, which results in lateral root
initiation, flowering, and good stand establishment [28]. Seed priming with IAAs (1 ppm) enhanced the seedling establishment
of Bouteloua gracilis [29], and in
wheat grass (Agropyron elongates),
seeds priming with IAAs at 50 ppm improved tolerance to drought stress by enhancing
antioxidant enzyme activities such as catalase [
Under salinity stress,
wheat seeds priming with IAAs (100, 150 and 200 mg L-1) regulated hormonal
homeostasis, which enhanced the CO2 assimilation rate and ultimately
resulted in increased grain yield [32].
SOS pathway (which maintains ion
homeostasis under salt stress) modulates root response by regulating PIN2
protein and auxin asymmetric distribution [33]. Also, seed
priming with IAAs improved the germination and growth of different species,
such as rice (Oryza sativa] and
pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), under
arsenic or cadmium (Cd) stress [34].
High and low day and
night temperature (suppose 24-35 °C day temperature and 5-10 °C night
temperature) was found to reduce fruit set, pollen grain viability, and IAA
levels in tomato [35]. However, application of auxin completely reversed male sterility
in barley and Arabidopsis [36]. The content of auxin was not affected by
proline, but the expression of auxin carriers was reduced and in the
overexpression lines of PDH, in which proline content was reduced, the
expression of auxin carrier genes was induced [114].
Figure 2. Proposed possible mechanisms used by auxin-and
abscisic acid (ABA) priming and their roles on the germination, growth, and
development of plants under different stresses [24].
3.4
Cytokinin
The exogenous
application of CKs can mitigate the abiotic stresses on crop plants, which
ultimately results in increased growth, development, and yield [52]. Likewise,
supplementation of CKs also reduces salinity stress in plants [52], and it
increases starch accumulation in salt-stressed rice plants [53] (Table 1). It has been reported that wheat seeds priming with kinetin (100 mg
L-1, 150 mg L-1, and 200 mg L-1) enhanced
germination and tolerance against salt by decreasing ABA and increasing IAAs
concentrations [54]. Likewise, Mangena [55] reported that soybean seed priming with CKs (Benzyl
adenine; 4.87 mg L-1) increased soybean root biomass, flowering, and
fruiting under drought stress. Priming of aged groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) seeds with CKs (150 ppm) enhanced germination
and seedling indices by enhancing antioxidant enzyme activities and decreasing
oxidative damage [56]. Seed priming with CKs or a combination of CKs and other
plant hormones has resulted in the mitigation of abiotic stresses in various
plant species.
Table 1. Seed-priming with
cytokinin adopted for developing abiotic stress tolerance in plants.
Plant |
Stresses |
Responses
of Plant |
References |
Soybean
(Glycine max) |
Drought |
Improved
drought tolerance in soybean plants |
[55] |
Pigeon
pea (Cajanus cajan) |
Salt |
Prevented
the damage caused by the apparatus involved in protein synthesis |
[57] |
Cadmium |
Tolerance
to the effects of Cd stress |
[34] |
|
Basil
(Ocimum basilicum) |
Drought |
Reduced
negative effects of drought stress |
[58] |
Wheat
(Triticum aestivum) |
Salt |
Decreased
ABA concentration, increased IAAs concentration, and enhancement of salt
tolerance |
[59] |
Salt |
Improved
photosynthetic rate, water use efficiency and stomatal conductance, decreased
Na+ and Cl− level, increased K+ level |
[60] |
|
Salt |
Decreased
electrolyte leakage and conferred salt tolerance |
[61] |
|
Salt |
Increased
tissue N content and nitrate reductase activity |
[62] |
|
Salt |
Induced
reduction in inorganic ion accumulation and increasing membranes stability
and K+/Na+ ratio, enhanced chlorophyll formation
and soluble sugar accumulation |
[63] |
|
Salt |
Alleviated
salt stress by enhanced ethylene production |
[64] |
3.5. Gibberallin
Different abiotic
stresses, such as salinity, drought, chilling, heat, and heavy metals, inhibit
proper nutrient uptake and photosynthesis, which ultimately results in stunted
plant growth [65]. The exogenous
application of gibberallin can mitigate abiotic stresses and enhance plant
growth and development (Table
2). Exogenous application of gibberallin
improved the growth of wheat (Triticum
aestivum) plants and mitigated drought induced oxidative damage by
maintaining relative water content, balancing the antioxidant mechanism system,
and conserving the chlorophyll concentration [66]. Foliar
application of GA3 @50ppm to tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants increased relative leaf water content,
stomatal density, and chlorophyll content by mitigating salinity stress [67]. Besides, GA3 was stimulated in plant growth and yield
leaf of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) by
enhancing biomass accumulation, leaf expansion, stomatal conductance, water use
efficiency, and nitrogen use efficiency [68].
Table 2. Seed-priming with
gibberellin and response of plant species.
Plants |
Stresses |
Responses
of Plant |
References |
Marigold and
Sweet fennel |
Salt |
Increased dry
matter and enhanced tolerance to salinity by enhancing antioxidant enzyme
activities |
[13] |
Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) |
Cadmium |
Increased
germination speed index and germination percentage and tolerance to Cd stress |
[34] |
Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum) |
Salt |
Increased
α-amylase activity and alleviated salt stress effects |
[37] |
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) |
Drought |
Increased
relative water content, seed protein, and reduced electrolyte leakage |
[38] |
Wheat (Triticum aestivum) |
Salt |
Promoted
better salinity tolerance |
[39] |
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) |
Drought |
Increased CAT
and APX activities |
[40] |
Corn (Zea mays) |
Salt |
Increased
tissue water content |
[41] |
Maize (Zea mays), Pea (Pisum sativum), Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) |
Salt |
Alleviated
salt stress effects |
[42] |
Rice (Oryza sativa) |
Flood |
Increased
α-Amylase activity, sucrose, glucose, and fructose content in seeds. |
[43] |
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) |
Salt |
Induced
enzymatic activities (SOD, CAT, GPX, APX, GR) and decreased lipid
peroxidation, and reduced membrane damage of alfalfa. |
[44] |
Sponge gourd (Luffa aegyptiaca) |
Salt |
Prevented the
adverse effect of salinity |
[45] |
Soybean (Glycine max) |
Saline-alkali |
Increased
activities of the antioxidant defense system, photosynthetic pigment
contents, better membrane integrity |
[46] |
Maize (Zea mays) |
Salt |
Reduced
negative effect of salt stress |
[47] |
Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) |
Salt |
Enhanced water
absorption and improved salinity tolerance |
[48] |
Maize (Zea mays) |
Drought |
Increased
chlorophyll content and enhance drought tolerance |
[49] |
Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) |
Salt |
Increased
water content of the okra seedlings |
[50] |
Triticale |
Salt |
Reduced Na+ accumulation
and increased K+ uptake |
[51] |
3.6
Abscisic acid
ABA is one of the major
plant hormones and is also known as a stress hormone. It plays a vital role in
mediating plant responses to various abiotic stresses, such as salt, heat, and
drought [69]
(Fig. 3). ABA not only plays a role in abiotic stress
mitigation but also plays a significant role in plant growth and development [70]. Rice seeds primed
with ABA exhibited enhanced seedling growth and yield in saline soil by
balancing nutrient uptake [71]. Likewise, priming rice seeds with ABA reduced alkaline
stress by enhancing antioxidant enzyme activities and the activity of stress
tolerance-related genes in the roots of rice seedlings [72]. It has been
reported that phytohormones are effective in the mitigation of heavy metal
stress [23]. ABA
biosynthetic gene expressions are induced by heavy metal stresses, which
results in increased levels of endogenous ABA [73].
Priming Arabidopsis
seeds with amino-butyric acid enhanced drought tolerance by accumulation of ABA
and the closing of stomata [74]. The regulation of proline metabolism is
dependent on ABA accumulation [116], whereas other
responses occur independently of ABA, and that ABA alone cannot duplicate
drought-induced proline accumulation [117]. They proposed that
GAs inhibited flowering and ABA promoted flowering in litchi [118].
Figure 3. Abscisic acid (ABA) priming protected alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) seedlings from wilting
and death under alkaline conditions. Eighteen-day-old alfalfa seedlings were
root-drenched with 10 μM ABA or without 10 μM ABA (Control) for 16 h and then
exposed to alkaline stress (15 mM Na2CO3). (A, B)
Photographs of seedling growth were taken after 60 h of alkaline treatment, (C)
leaf withering (%) was recorded at 24 h, 36 h, 48 h, and 60 h, (D)
survival rate of alfalfa seedlings was determined after 48 h and 60 h of
alkaline treatment, (E) total fresh or dry weight of seedlings and (F)
water content were measured after 60 h of alkaline treatment. Values are the
mean ± standard error, n = 3. Asterisks denote a significant difference
compared with control plants (* p <
0.05, ** p < 0.01) based on
Student’s t-test. Different letters
above the columns indicate significant differences (p <
0.05) at each time point based on Duncan’s test [112].
3.7
Salicylic acid
Salicylic
acid (SA) is a phenolic compound involved in the regulation of growth and
development of plants, and their responses to biotic and abiotic stress factors
[75]
(Table
3; Fig. 4). It is involved in the regulation of important plant physiological
processes such as photosynthesis, nitrogen metabolism, proline metabolism,
production of glycine betaine, antioxidant defense system, and plant-water
relations under stress conditions and thereby protects plants against abiotic stresses [75]. SA has been shown to
improve plant tolerance to major abiotic stresses such as metal [76], salinity [77], drought [78], and heat stress [79]. The exogenous application
of salicylic acid enhanced maize (Zea
mays) productivity under low temperature stress, as well as the germination
and growth parameters of garden cress (Lepidium
sativum) seedlings under salinity stress [80], and mitigated drought
stress and enhanced the vegetative growth of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) [81]. Priming with salicylic acid at 100 mg
L-1 enhanced emergence and produced early
seedling growth in cucumber (Cucumis
sativus) [82] and increased germination and productivity of Vicia faba [83] and sesame (Sesamum indicum) [84].
Table 3. Seed priming with
salicylic acid and response of plant species.
Crops |
![]() This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution AbstractPlants
exposing abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, heat, cold, and heavy
metals that induce complex responses ultimately result in reduced growth as
well as crop yield. Phytohormones are widely known for their regulatory
functions in controlling plant growth and development. They also act as significant
chemical messengers, enabling plants to survive when subjected to a variety of
stressors. Nowadays various strategies are employed that can withstand these emergences. In recent years, seed
priming has been an indispensable method to induce tolerance against various
stresses. The seed
priming process is a physiological method that involves hydration for
enhancement of seed germination, early seedling growth, and yield under
stressed and non-stressed conditions. The seedlings
emerging from primed seeds showed early and uniform germination. Moreover, the
overall growth of plant is enhanced due to the seed-priming treatments with phytohormone which
have become a significant
strategy for reducing the impacts of abiotic stress. Therefore, this review analyses the potentiality of priming with several
phytohormones to mitigate the negative impacts of abiotic stresses, for
improving crop productivity. Abstract KeywordsAbiotic tolerant, phytohormones, plant
growth, priming ![]() This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution ![]() ![]() This work is licensed under the
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