Improvement of emergence of parsley seeds by post-sown priming

The efficiency of, and appropriate temperature, its duration and moisture. content of a seeding mixture (Pretty Soil, type 140) for post-sown (PS) pri ming of parsley seeds were studied. The seeds were sown in flats packed wit h the seeding mixture adjusted to a moisture content of 45 and 50%, and pri med at different temperatures for different periods of time. in boxes to pr event the evaporation of moisture from the seeding mixture. Thereafter, the control unprimed seeds were sown and the treated and the control flats wer e fully watered and subjected to the conditions required for growth. In Exp eriment 2 and 4, during the treatments with moisture at 45 and 50% contents for 10 days at 15 degreesC and for 7 days at 25 degreesC seeds emerged at the rates of 20 to 40% and these seedlings were etiolated, indicating that these treatments were not appropriate. In the treatments at 15 degreesC for 7 days (Expriment 1) and at 25 degreesC for 5 days (Expriment 3), the perc entage of emergence under the growing conditions of cabinets was almost alw ays higher with a 45% moisture content than with a 50% moisture content. In Expriment 5, the emergence in the. early days was more rapid in the treatm ent with a moisture content of 45% at 25 degreesC for 5 days than in the tr eatment with a moisture content of 45% at 15 degreesC for 7 days. In Experi ment 6, the seeds in the treatment with a moisture content of 45% at 25 deg reesC for 5 days, emerged earlier, faster and in larger numbers in a glassh ouse, and grew into seedlings with a more uniform fresh weight than those. in the absence of treatment. The treatment with the seeding mixture adjuste d to a moisture content of 45% at 25 degreesC for 5 days was found to be su itable for PS priming.