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Dear Colleagues,

This special issue plans to review the latest research advances in seed dispersal and germination as one of the first assumptions of plant life cycle or plant population growth. In plant population ecology, diaspora dispersal is understood as the essential process by which plants are transported to new locations to establish offspring population. The establishment of the young population in a new place also requires the successful germination of the plant seeds. In these mechanisms, plant species have evolved different strategies to be successful in heterogeneous landscape habitats.

This special issue is aimed at providing selected contributions on advances in this research, particularly in relation to practice such as nature conservation, invasive plants, plant conservation, plant diversity, reproductive strategies, plant management, etc.

Potential topics with relation to the stimulation of seed germination will include above all:

diaspore and seed;
diaspore dispersal;
seed germination;
seedling emergence;
dimorphism and polymorphism;
maternal effect;
offspring generation;
plant strategy;
population growth, and many others.

Dr. Božena Šerá
Guest Editor

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Keywords

seed germination
factors
seed control
field emergence of seeds
healthy seed

Published Papers (1 paper)

Research

17 pages, 4604 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Chitosan-GSNO Nanoparticles and Silicon Priming Enhance the Germination and Seedling Growth of Soybean (Glycine max L.)

by Senabulya Steven, Mohammad Shafiqul Islam, Amit Ghimire, Nusrat Jahan Methela, Eun-Hae Kwon, Byung-Wook Yun, In-Jung Lee, Seong-Hoon Kim and Yoonha Kim

Plants 2024, 13(10), 1290; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13101290 - 7 May 2024

Viewed by 153

Abstract

Soybean, a major legume crop, has seen a decline in its production owing to challenges in seed germination and the development of seedlings. Thus, in this study, we systematically investigated the influence of various chitosan–S-nitrosoglutathione (chitosan-GSNO) nanoparticle (0, 25, 50, and 100 µM) and Si (0, 0.5, and 1 mM) priming concentrations on soybean seed germination and seedling growth over five different priming durations (range: 1–5 h at each concentration). Significant differences were observed in all parameters, except seedling diameter, with both treatments. Seed germination was significantly enhanced after 3 h of priming in both treatments. The final germination percentage (FGP), peak germination percentage (PGP), vigor index (VI), seedling biomass (SB), hypocotyl length (HL), and radical length (RL) of 100 μM chitosan-GSNO-nanoparticle-primed seeds increased by 20.3%, 41.3%, 78.9%, 25.2%, 15.7%, and 65.9%, respectively, compared with those of the control; however, the mean germination time (MGT) decreased by 18.43%. Si priming at 0.5 mM increased the FGP, PGP, VI, SB, HL, and RL by 13.9%, 55.17%, 39.2%, 6.5%, 22.5%, and 25.1%, respectively, but reduced the MGT by 12.29% compared with the control treatment. Chitosan-GSNO and Si treatment up-regulated the relative expression of gibberellic acid (GA)-related genes (GmGA3ox3 and GmGA2ox1) and down-regulated that of abscisic acid (ABA)-related genes (GmABA2, GmAAO3, and GmNCED5). Chitosan-GSNO and Si application increased bioactive GA₄ levels and simultaneously reduced ABA content. Hence, the use of exogenous chitosan-GSNO nanoparticles and Si as priming agents had a beneficial effect on seed germination and seedling growth because of the up-regulation in the expression of GA and down-regulation in the expression of ABA. Additional research is needed to understand the combined impact of Si and chitosan-GSNO nanoparticles, including their effects on the expression levels of other hormones and genes even in the later growth stage of the crop. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Studies on Strategy of Diaspore Dispersal and Effectiveness of Seed Germination)

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