Response of Fennel to Priming Techniques

Aims: The aim is to study the effects of seed priming on germination and yield of Fennel in laboratory experiments and pot studies.
Study Design: The method used is CRD (Completely Randomized Design) with three replications.
Place and Duration of Study: Experiments were carried out at the Research Station of the Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, northwestern Iran at June 2012. The climate of the research site is semiarid and cold with an average annual precipitation of 270 mm. The soil was sandy-loam with an electrical conductivity of 0.72 dS m–1, pH of 7.74.
Methodology: The treatments are gibberellic acid (GA3) with dosage of 500p.p.m, hydro-priming (HP) with 24 hours duration, nitrate potassium (KNO3) 3% and control that was performed on Fennel seeds. Then in laboratory with use of special paper and pure water the seeds were cultured in Petri-dishes and were putt in germinator with 190C temperature for 8 days and were counted daily. Some parts of primed seeds were stored in normal condition for 6 months and were cultured in laboratory condition. All the primed seeds were farmed in pots. Three months later the plants were harvested in first blooming level and dry weight and essential oil percentage were measured.
Result: The results of laboratory study showed that the influence of various treatments on germination percentage was significant. KNO3 showed the highest positive effect on germination percentage ( 87.83%). The seedling length and weight in KNO3 and GA3 treatments were the highest in comparision with other ones. The effect of different treatments on essential oil percentage was significant. KNO3 with (3.55%) and GA3 with (3.36%) had the most positive effect on essential oil percentage. But the effect of different treatments on dry weight was not significant.