Advance in Agriculture and Biology Adv. Agri. Biol.

www.pscipub.com/AAB 1 (3), 2013: 56-57

© PSCI Publications

The Effect of Seed Priming by Ascorbic Acid on Garden

Thyme Transplant Production
Shahram Sharafzadeh
Department of Agriculture, Firoozabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Firoozabad, Iran
Corresponding author: Shahram Sharafzadeh

Keywords ABSTRACT
Garden thyme, herbaceous perennial plant, is one of the most important
Thymus vulgaris medicinal plants. The treatment of seeds to reduce the time between seed
sowing and seedling emergence is known as seed priming. This study was
Vitamin conducted to evaluate the effects of ascorbic acid (0, 300, 600, 900, 1200
µM) as priming agent on growth characteristics of garden thyme
medicinal plants transplants in a completely randomized design with three replications. The
maximum shoot height, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root fresh
transplant production weight and root dry weight were obtained at concentration 900 µM of
ascorbic acid.
priming
© 2013 PSCI Publisher All rights reserved.

Introduction
Garden thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) from Labiatae (Lamiaceae) family is herbaceous perennial plant. This plant is
one of the most important medicinal plants (Hernandez et al., 2004; Bolukbasi and Erhan, 2007). The shoots contain the
most popular herbal medicine and spice, used in all developing countries (Mc Devitt et al., 2007). Thyme oil acts as
antimicrobial agents (Deans and Ritchie, 1987; Prabuseenivasan et al., 2006), antifungal agents (Klaric et al., 2007) and is
useful in the treatment for respiratory tract diseases (Inouye et al., 2001), wound healing, a stomachic carminative, diuretic,
urinary disinfectant and vermifuge (Boskabady et al., 2006).
The treatment of seeds to reduce the time between seed sowing and seedling emergence is known as seed priming
(Sadeghi and Khaef, 2011). By seed priming or seed preplanting treatments, the seeds absorb water to begin germination
process and then dry in order to prevent germination (Mc Donald, 1999; Badoni et al., 2009; Sedghi et al., 2010).
Germination percentage, rate of seedling emergence and seedling establishment can be influenced by seed priming
(Eisvand et al., 2011). Seed priming with ascorbic acid may improve seed performance at suboptimal conditions (Ahmad et
al., 2012).
This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of ascorbic acid as priming agent on growth characteristics of
garden thyme transplants.

Materials And Methods

This study was performed by Thymus vulgaris seeds in Shiraz, State of Fars, Iran. The treatments were different
concentrations of ascorbic acid (0, 300, 600, 900, 1200 µM) as priming agent for 12 hours. The seeds were dried at room
temperature after priming. The growing mixture contained sand, soil and leaf mold, 1:1:1 (v/v). The experiment was
conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications. Each replication included a pot with 30 transplants.
During the experimental period, seedlings were kept at outdoor and watered daily. After 40 days, 15 plants were randomly
selected from each replication and shoot height, shoot fresh and dry weights and root fresh and dry weights were measured.
The data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Statistical Analysis System (SAS) software at P < 0.05
and means compared with Duncan’s new multiple range test (DNMRT).

Results And Discussion

Transplant growth was affected by concentrations of the ascorbic acid during priming (Table 1). The maximum
shoot height (8.3 cm) and shoot fresh weight (183.4 mg/plant) were achieved on 900 µM which were not significantly
different when compared to 1200 µM. The highest values of shoot dry weight (45.9 mg/plant), root fresh weight (149.0
mg/plant) and root dry weight (25.1 mg/plant) were obtained at 900 µM which were significantly different when compared
to other treatments.
 Adv. Agri. Biol. 1 (3), 2013: 56-57

Table 1. Effect of ascorbic acid concentrations as priming agent on growth characteristics of thyme transplants.
Ascorbic acid Shoot Shoot FW Shoot DW Root Root
(µM) height (mg) (mg) FW DW
(cm) (mg) (mg)
0 4.8 c 97.6 c 25.9 d 93.1 d 15.3 d
300 5.8 b 123.3 b 31.3 c 104.6 c 17.2 c
600 5.7 b 125.4 b 33.2 c 108.8 c 18.1 c
900 8.3 a 183.4 a 45.9 a 149.0 a 25.1 a
1200 7.6 a 175.2 a 41.9 b 139.1 b 23.8 b
1
In each column, means with the same letters are not significantly different at 5% level of Duncan’s new multiple range test.

Seed priming improves some processes such as storage, material handling, activation and synthesis of a number of
enzymes and nucleic acids, ATP synthesis, and the cytoplasmic membrane repair (Asgharipour and Rafiei, 2011) and
provides passing from step I and II of germination (Eisvand et al., 2011). Researchers indicated that priming with
tocopherol during seed storage have a good effect on germination of pine, onion, okra and Vicia faba L. var. minor seeds
(Socrates et al., 1961; Zalewski et al., 2000; Draganic et al., 2011).
In conclusion, priming by 900 µM ascorbic acid resulted in the best growth characteristics of the transplants.

References
Ahmad I, Khaliq T, Ahmad A, Basra ShMA, Hasnain Z, Ali A. 2012. Effect of seed priming with ascorbic acid, salicylic acid and hydrogen peroxide on
emergence, vigor and antioxidant activities of maize. African J Biotech 11(5):1127-1132.
Asgharipour MR, Rafiei M. 2011. The effect of different concentrations ofhumic acidonseed germnation behavior and vigor of barley. Australian J Basic
App Sci 5(12):610-613.
Badoni A, Nautiyal M, Gusain K, Kaur M, Dhiman R, Bisht C, Chauhan JS. 2009. Effect of water uptake on germinability in seeds of some medicinal
plants, Uttarakhand, India J American Sci 5 (4):123-128.
Bolukbasi SC, Erhan MK. 2007. Effect of dietary thyme on laying hen's performance and E. coli concentration in Feces. Int J Nat Engin Sci 2:55-58.
Boskabady MH, Aslani MR, Kiani S. 2006. Relaxant effect of Thymus vulgaris on guinea-pig tracheal chains and its possible mechanism(s). J
Phytotherapy Res 20:28-33.
Deans SG, Ritchie G. 1987. Antibacterial properties of plant essential oils. Int J Food Microbiol 5:165-180.
Draganic I, Lekic S, Brankovic T, Todorovic G. 2011. Fatty acids and tocopherol content in sunflower seeds affected by accelerated ageing and priming
with antioxidant solutions. Turkish J Field Crops 16(2):100-104.
Eisvand HR, Shahrosvand S, Zahedi B, Heidari S, Afroughe Sh. 2011. Effects of hydro‐priming and hormonal priming by gibberellin and salicylic acid
on seed and seedling quality of carrot (Daucus carota var. sativus). Iranian J Plant Physiol 1(4):233‐239.
Hernandez F, Madrid J, Garcia V, Oregano J, Megias MD. 2004. Influence of two plant extras on broiler performance, Digestibility and Digestive Organ
size. J Poult Sci 83:169-174.
Inouye S, Takizawa T, Yamaguchi H. 2001. Antibacterial activity of essential oils and their major constituents against respiratory tract pathogens by
gaseous contact. J Antimicrob Chemother 47:565-573.
Klaric SM, Kosalec I, Mastelic J, Pieckova E, Pepeljnak S. 2007. Antifungal activity of thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) essential oil and thymol against
moulds from damp dwellings. Lett Appl Microbiol 44:36-42.
Mc Devitt DE, Hillman RM, Acamovic K, Cross T. 2007. The effect of herbs and their associated essential oils on performance, dietary digestibility and
gut micro flora in chickens from 7 to 28 days of age. British J Poult Sci 48:496-506.
Mc Donald MB. 1999. Seed deteriorations physiology, repair and assessment. Seed Sci Tech 27:177-237.
Prabuseenivasan S, Jayakumar M, Ignacimuthu S. 2006. In vitro antibacterial activity of some plant essential oils. BMC Comp Altern Med 6:39.
Sadeghi H, Khaef N. 2011. Priming-induced metabolic changes in three annual medics species improve germination and early growth under drought and
salt stress conditions. Genetics Plant Physiol 1(3-4):186-198.
Sedghi M, Nemati A, Esmaielpour B. 2010. Effect of seed priming on germination and seedling growth of two medicinal plants under salinity. Emir J
Food Agric 22(2):130-139.
Socrates A, Kaloyereas CA, Mann W, Miller JC. 1961. Experiments in preserving and revitalizing pine, onion, and okra seeds. Economic Bot 15:213-
217.
Zalewski K, Widejko D, Gorecki RG. 2000. The influence of CO2, temperature and α-tocopherol on phospholipid changes in embryonic axes of field
bean seeds during storage. Acta Soc Bot Pol 69:123-126.

57