Poor seed germination obstructs the early and uniform seedling emergence at the sub-optimal conditions which can be a major setback to early spring cucumber growers. Different seed priming methods ought to be efficient solutions for the problem. To standardize the best priming method, an experiment was laid out in a Completely randomized design at the Horticulture lab of IAAS, Lamjung Campus. The treatment consisted of demineralized distilled water (hydropriming), hormonal priming (GA3 100ppm and GA3 200 ppm), halopriming (NaCl 0.5% and KNO3 0.5%), and non-primed seeds as control. The seeds were soaked in the respective treatment for 24 hours and then dried to initial moisture content under shade conditions. Observation recorded significantly highest germination percentage in GA3 100ppm (19.25%) and hydro priming (19.25%). The lowest mean germination time was found in GA3 100ppm (4.19days) which was significantly at par with GA3 200ppm (4.33days) and hydro priming (4.48days). The germination energy was found highest in GA3 100ppm (39.58) followed by GA3 200ppm (33.65) and dry weight was recorded highest in hydropriming (0.0252g) followed by GA3 100ppm (0.0250g) whereas the highest root length was observed in KNO3 priming (12.955cm) which is statistically at par with hydropriming (11.42cm), GA3 200 ppm (10.872cm) and NaCl priming (10.42cm). The plumule length was observed highest in KNO3 (13.00cm) followed by NaCl (11.25cm). All primed seeds showed increased seedling vigor compared to the unprimed seeds. The study showed that applied treatment notably increased the germination characteristics and seedling stand.

Paclobutrazol (PBZ) is a growth regulator that widely used in horticulture and in the tomato seedling growth to compact the shoots, increase the stem diameter and, root biomass, allowing more tolerance of the seedlings against adverse weather conditions. The objective of this work was to evaluate the rates of paclobutrazol (0, 4, 7, 10 and 13 mg L-1) applied 15 days after sowing by foliar spray on the growth, chemical composition and xylem vessel number of tomato seedlings cultivated in two periods. The PBZ regardless of the application rate reduced the height of tomato seedlings in both growth periods. The basal stem diameter and leaf area were increased with 13 mg L-1 of PBZ. The lignin percentage also increased with 10 and 13 mg L-1 of PBZ as compared to control for both periods. The number of xylem vessel was not affected by PBZ application on the seedlings in the first period. PBZ application at rates of 7 and 10 mg L-1 increased the xylem vessel number in the second period. In general, the application of 13 mg L-1 of PBZ generated seedling more robust to overcome climate adversities.