A Multi-year Beneficial Effect of Seed Priming with Gibberellic Acid-3 (GA3) on Plant Growth and Production in a Perennial Grass, Leymus chinensis

Seed priming is a widely used technique in crops to obtain uniform germination and high-quality seedlings. In this study, we found a long-term effect of seed priming with gibberellic acid-3 (GA3) on plant growth and production in Leymus chinensis. Seeds were germinated on agar plates containing 0–200 μM GA3, and the germinated seedlings were transplanted to clay planting pots and grown for about one year. The clonal tillers grown from the mother plants were transplanted to field conditions in the second year. Results showed that GA3 treatment significantly increased seed germination rate by 14–27%. GA3 treatment also promoted subsequent plant growth and biomass production, as shown by a significant increase in plant height, tiller number, and fresh and dry weight in both pot (2016) and field (2017) conditions. It is particularly noteworthy that the growth-promoting effect of a single seed treatment with GA3 lasted for at least two years. In particular, GA3 treatment at 50 μM increased aboveground fresh and dry weight by 168.2% and 108.9% in pot-grown conditions, and 64.5% and 126.2% in field-grown conditions, respectively. These results imply a transgenerational transmission mechanism for the GA-priming effect on clonal offspring growth and biomass production in L. chinensis.