BIOCHEMICAL AND PHENOLIC ACID PROFILING OF SUNFLOWER HYBRID VARIETIES' SEED TREATED WITH DIFFERENT BIO-PRIMING AGENTS

Seed dormancy is a major factor in germination of seeds. Sunflower is the most important oil seed crop that faces a major problem in seed dormancy. Therefore, a study was conducted to find out the efficiency of biocontrol agents such as Enterobacter (FD-17), Bacillus sp. (KS-54) and Paraburkholderia phytofirmans (PsJN) on seed germination and biochemical profile of sunflower seedlings. These biocontrol agents have mineralization and solubilization mechanism of nutrients from organic and inorganic sources that reduce the chances of seed dormancy and help in germination of seeds. Growth parameters of seedlings (germination percentage, mean growth time, vigor index I, vigor II) and enzymatic parameters (catalase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, protease activity, total soluble protein and amylase activity) were measured. It was shown that the seed variety FH620 has (100%) germination percentage, (40%) mean growth time when treated with Enterobacter (FD-17) and Paraburkholderia phytofirmans (PsJN). Similarly, biochemical profiling indicated that FH620 gave optimized results when treated with Enterobacter (FD-17) strains. Similarly, in case of protease, lipid peroxidation (MDA) contents and a-amylase, the seed variety FH620 indicated 10.33 mg/mL of protease when treated with (Bacillus sp.) KS-54, (95.52 mg/mL) MDA contents when treated with (Enterobacter) FD-17. Phenolic profile was also carried out by high performance liquid chromatography. All the experiments were performed in triplicates under optimized conditions.

Automated summary

The study found that using Enterobacter and Paraburkholderia phytofirmans can improve the germination rate and growth efficiency of sunflower seeds, while also positively impacting the biochemical characteristics of seedlings.