The Effects of Priming Treatments on Germination and Seedling Growth of Red Fescue under Nickel and Cadmium Stress

The objectives of this study were to determine effects of different priming treatments on germination and seedling growth in red fescue infected with different levels (0, 75, 150 and 300 mg l-1) of cadmium and nickel. The study was conducted under laboratory conditions. In the study, two heavy metal kinds (Cadmium (Cd) and Nickel (Ni)) were considered 3 different concentrations (75, 150, 300 mg l -1) and distillate water as control application. To determine the effect of germination priming under heavy metal stress, 2% KNO3 and 500 ppm GA3 were used as priming agents. The research was performed as factorial arrangement of completely randomized design with four replications. The results of study indicated that both germination and seedling growth properties were negatively affected by both heavy metal kinds. Priming treatments were ineffective in reducing the effects of heavy metals on germination properties. Germination at high doses of heavy metals was negatively affected by priming treatments. There wasn't positively effect on root length of red fescue of priming treatments, while shoot length was positively affected by GA3 treatment. Also, the negatively effects on germination and seedling growth of nickel were greater than cadmium