EFFECT OF SEED PRIMING OF ORGANIC, BIOCHEMICAL AND MINERAL FERTILIZERS ON SEED VIGOR OF SORGHUM Adawia S. Mustafa and Sadam H. Cheyed* Department of Field Crops, College of Agriculture, University of Baghdad, Iraq E-mail : saddam.hakeem@coagri.uobaghdad.edu.iq Abstract: Laboratory experiment was conducted to study the effect of sorghum seed priming of different concentration of organic, biochemical and mineral fertilizers on seed vigor of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.). Experiment was carried out at the Seed Technology Laboratory of the Field Crops Department, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Baghdad. The experiment was laid out in nested arrangement according to completely randomized design with four replications. Three types of fertilizer were used (Acadian (500, 1000, 1500 mg liter -1 ), Humus (500, 1000, 2000 mg liter -1 ) and compound fertilizer NPK (Foliatral) (200,400, 600 mg liter -1 ) , in addition to control treatment (distilled water). The results of the statistical analysis showed that the foliar fertilizers significantly affected the studied traits and significantly higher than control treatment. When comparing the foliar fertilizers, it showed that the Acadian fertilizer gave the highest average of standard laboratory germination, plumule length, fresh and dry weights and germination speed. The results showed that the best treatment of foliar fertilizers is Acadian fertilizer at the concentration of 1500 mg liter -1 , which gave the highest average of standard laboratory germination and length of the radical, fresh, and dry weights of the seedlings, and germination speed. It is concluded that seed priming by that Acadian fertilizer at the concentration of 1500 mg liter -1 hastens and improves seed vigor and the resulting seedlings. The study showed that Acadian fertilizer at the concentration of 1500 mg liter -1 is the best among the foliar fertilizers studied in improving the seed vigor and the resulting seedlings characters. Key words: Seed priming , Standard germination test, germination rate, seaweed extract. *Author for correspondence Received July 08, 2018 Revised September 24, 2018 Accepted October 17, 2018 Int. J. Agricult. Stat. Sci. Vol. 14, Supplement 1, pp. 239-244, 2018 ISSN : 0973-1903 ORIGINAL ARTICLE 1. Introduction Sorghum crop, one of the most important seed and fodder summer crops, which are cultivated in a wide range of environmental conditions and tolerate high temperatures and abiotic stresses, and produce substantially good yield in tropical and semi-arid regions. Sorghum is used as an important feedstock, and the residue is used to produce biofuels, dyes used for leather coloration, and ethanol production. Although the wide cultivation and production of this crop, but its productivity in Iraq is still suffering many problems and led to reduce the productivity of unit area due to mostly to the low field emergence. It has been noted through many studies in Iraq, a significant difference between the germination rates of laboratory and field emergence [Hamza (2006), Cheyed (2008), AL-Baldawi and Hamza (2017)]. Many procedures have been developed to alter this problem depends on seed treatment after harvest and before planting to reduce the difference between germination rates of laboratory and field emergence, however, the results were not at the level of ambition, and this confirms that the problem still exists, which may be due to the stages of the seeds development on the mother plant. As it may be due to lack of nutrients at the stage seed filling or other influences. Attention has been focused on the introduction of some new technologies in agriculture, including foliar nutrient application, researches has confirmed that 85% of the plant needs can be subsidies through foliar nutrient application . This method is effective in improving growth characters, yield and quality, and reduces environmental pollution. One of the most important things in foliar nutrient application is the timing and dosage of spraying to make the most use of foliar fertilizer, which results