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Biology and Biotechnology of Environmental Stress Tolerance in Plants, Volume 3

adaptations through seed-priming include hastening and synchronization of

germination; improvement in plant growth, plant height, leaf area, root-shoot

length, photosynthesis, accumulation of biomass to minimize or undo the

effect on yield (Prajapati et al., 2020). During priming, hastened metabolic

activity converts stored reserves into simpler compounds necessary for faster

germination rates (Gallardo et al., 2001). It triggers the cell cycle-related

processes and increases activities of antioxidant enzymes including super-

oxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase, glutathione reductase (GR), etc., that

ultimately improve oxidative status of plants under stress conditions, leading

to increased seed germination and vigor (Khan et al., 2020). Seed priming is

also known to improve seed viability by inducing the DNA repair machinery

for repair of damaged DNA formed during the aging process (Thornton et

al., 1993). The study reported that pre-replicative repair of damaged DNA is

carried out during the aerated hydration that takes place during the priming

treatments. Priming enhances the protein synthesis by improving the proper

functioning of protein-synthesizing machinery like enhanced rRNA synthesis

and maintenance of ribosome integrity (Coolbear et al., 1990).

FIGURE 4.1 Seed priming induced morphological, physiological, biochemical, and

molecular changes in plants under various abiotic stresses.