Synergistic Effect of Priming and Purdue Improved Crop Storage on Field Performance of Upland Rice: A Way to Primed Seed Longevity

Poor germination potential and associated field performance are the main bottlenecks of upland rice in the Fogera district, Ethiopia. Accordingly, we investigated the effect of priming with calcium chloride, packaging material, and storage duration on the field performance of New Rice for Africa (NERICA‐4) upland rice seeds. Rice priming treatments including leaving as dry seed, treatments with distilled water, and calcium chloride solutions have been evaluated for the rice seed quality parameters of interest. Priming using CaCl 2 and storage material uses significantly improved performance of upland rice in the research area. Particularly, seeds primed with 2% calcium chloride and freshly kept without packaging exhibit the highest weight percentage of biomass in the aboveground, number of filled kernels, panicle length (PL), and grain yield (GY). Additionally, the synergy of using 2% calcium chloride priming and purdue improved crop storage (PICS) bags resulted in significantly agronomic traits across all storage durations. Thus, this study highlights the effectiveness of synergistic effects of NERICA‐4 priming treatments in enhancing seed longevity and yield‐related characteristics that would benefit farmers and/or seed producers.