Seed Priming with Salts of Nitrate Enhances Nitrogen use Efficiency in Rice

An experiment was conducted to investigate the absorption and utilization of nitrogen by rice seed treatment with Nitrate salts (halo priming) and distilled water (hydro-priming) in two successive years. Results revealed that seed priming with Mg (NO3)2, KNO3 and Distilled water always perform better than non-primed control sets in enhancing seed germination and nitrate reductase enzyme activity in leaves that promote to nitrogen accumulation in different plant parts. This seed priming technique further enhanced soluble and insoluble nitrogen content in seed, and also the nitrogen gathering capacity in seed and straw (Kg h-1). Seed priming was also found beneficial in encouraging grain yield after applying Kg-1 nitrogen in the soil. This technique proved promising in more nitrogen accumulation and less nitrogen loss. Among seed priming treatment Mg (NO3)2 performed the best in respect to all measured parameters followed by KNO3 and hydro-primed one in comparison to control sets. These results clearly indicated that higher yield in rice can be achieved via improving the nitrogen absorption and utilization by growing crop, raised with seed priming treatment especially using Mg (NO3)2 salts.