Influence of SDHI seed treatment on the physiological conditions of spring barley seedlings under drought stress

In our just published study, the colleagues from the Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poland, and myself are investigating how seed treatments affect barley response to the drought stress. The manuscript just got released to the Special Issue of Agronomy: Mechanism and Improvement of Drought Resistance in Crops.

We describe how 7 various seed treatments affect the barley seed physiology at the seedling stage under drought, and after reversal of the stress. Seed treatments help reduce the initial pathogen load and thus improve the condition of plants from their earliest developmental stages. But, they can have impacts beyond their basic role of fungicide protection.

We tested 7 seed treatments, and they differed in their impacts on the vigor parameters of the barley seed and on the physiological state of seedlings under drought stress and after regeneration. Seed treatments based on the substances from the SDHI group did not cause inhibition of the seedling growth. Using the analysis of photosynthesis-related parameters, we showed that seed treatments from the SDHI group provided a superior tolerance of the imposed drought in spring barley than other treatments. In addition to protection against abiotic stress, SDHI treatments also rendered a higher efficiency of the photochemical reactions in the treated plants.

I'm way beyond excited for this collaborative project hitting the press.