Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), a significant cereal crop from the Gramineae family, serves as a vital source of protein, essential minerals, B-group vitamins, and dietary fiber. However, its productivity is often hindered by issues such as poor seed germination, which can adversely affect yield and crop quality. This study investigated the effects of different silicon concentrations and priming durations on wheat germination and seedling growth. Analysis of variance revealed that silicon treatment significantly influenced key parameters of germination and growth, including germination percentage (GP), germination index (GI), vigor index (VI), radicle length (RL), plumule length (PL), and seedling dry weight (SDW). Priming with silicon at a concentration of 1 mM resulted in notable improvements, increasing GP, GI, VI, RL, and PL by 10.6%, 65.5%, 29.4%, 18.6%, and 28.6%, respectively, after 6 hours of priming. Certain germination traits demonstrated strong positive correlations, particularly GP and GI (r = 0.96) and VI and RL (r = 0.94), after 4 hours of priming. These improvements in seed germination and seedling development may result from enhanced water uptake, stimulated cell division, and increased hydrolytic enzyme activity, which facilitate the mobilization of seed reserves and accelerate the growth of embryonic tissues.

Sticky mouse-ear chickweed (Cerastium glomeratum Thuill.) is a dominant annual weed of Korea. Control management of such an exotic weed is a challenging task for agronomist and researcher over the years. We evaluated the effect of elevated pH levels on the germination, growth, chlorophyll content, nutrients and hormonal regulation of sticky mouse-ear chickweed under green-house conditions. Our results showed that pH have no significant effect on seed germination except pH3, which reduced germination rate by 10%. Maximum hypocotyl and radicle growth was observed at pH5 and pH7, while hypocotyl failed to emerge at pH 3. Plant growth attributes showed that plant height, fresh biomass, number of leaves and chlorophyll content were higher at pH7 and pH9; while lowest number of leaves (24.8 ± 2.8) and chlorophyll content (313.2 ± 11.2 SPAD) were recorded for pH3. The endogenous ABA levels were significantly higher at pH3 (71.22±5.4ng/g) but lowered at pH7 and pH9 (6.6±0.8 ng/g). The weed nutrients uptake result showed higher Fe (858.47 mg/kg) and Al (835.05 mg/kg) at pH 3 and pH 5; while higher Ca content (4887.2 mg/kg) was observed at pH 5. It was concluded that use of varying pH can play a vital role in the weed management, although its possible adverse impact on endemic flora and fauna needs to be assessed.