Enhanced Apiaceae germination performance by seed priming involves promoting pre-germination growth of the underdeveloped (small) embryos, reduction in hormone contents, and priming with abscisic acid (ABA) improved ageing resilience. Different seed priming technologies are used to improve germination performance and seedling vigour of vegetable crops. Daucus carota (carrot), Pastinaca sativa (parsnip), and other Apiaceae produce morphologically dormant single-seeded fruit halves (mericarps) as dispersal units. In mature mericarps, the underdeveloped (small) embryo is embedded in abundant endosperm tissue, and pre-germination embryo growth to a critical embryo:seed (E:S) length ratio is a requirement for the completion of germination by radicle emergence. We investigated how hydropriming and additive priming with gibberellins (GA), abscisic acid (ABA), and gas plasma-activated water (GPAW) affected carrot and parsnip mericarp germination and ageing sensitivity accessed using a wet ageing assay (80% RH, 42 °C). Carrot and parsnip mericarp priming enhanced germination speed (germination rate GR50%), maximal germination percentage (Gmax), and germination vigour. This was associated with enhanced pre-emergence embryo growth inside hydroprimed, hormone-primed, and GPAW-primed mericarps. Hydropriming affected the hormone contents and ABA sensitivity of parsnip mericarps. It reduced the contents of bioactive GAs and indole-3-acetic acid ~ 2.1 and ~ 7.7-fold, and of the germination inhibitors ABA and cis-(+)-12-oxo-phytodienoic acid ~ 9.2 and ~ 6.0-fold, respectively. Hydroprimed carrot and parsnip mericarps were more sensitive in the wet ageing assay. GPAW-priming increased carrot salinity tolerance but did not increase its wet ageing resilience to a controlled deterioration treatment (CDT). In contrast, GPAW-priming increased the wet ageing resilience of many other vegetable seeds and cereal grains. ABA-priming not only enhanced embryo growth and germination performance, it also increased the wet ageing resilience of carrot and parsnip mericarps. We conclude that ABA-priming and GPAW-priming are promising technologies to improve vigour and wet ageing resilience of primed seeds.

Department of Agro environmental Science Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine Obihiro Hokkaido 080 8555 Japan

Department of Biological Sciences Seed Biology and Technology Group Royal Holloway University of London Egham TW20 0EX UK

Eden Research plc Milton Park Oxforshire OX14 4SA UK

Elsoms Seeds Ltd Spalding Lincolnshire PE11 1QG UK

Laboratory of Growth Regulators Institute of Experimental Botany Palacký University Olomouc Czech Academy of Sciences and Faculty of Science 77900 Olomouc Czech Republic

Syngenta Ltd Jealott's Hill International Research Centre Bracknell RG42 6EY UK

Tozer Seeds Ltd Cobham KT11 3EH UK

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