Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the world’s leading cereal crops which is essential for food, feed and industrial applications. Despite its significance, maize is moderately sensitive to salinity which adversely affects seed germination, early growth and overall productivity, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. Seed priming has proven to be a practical and cost-effective method for enhancing salt tolerance and improving early seedling performance. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different seed priming methods on the early growth of maize genotypes under salinity stress. The experiment was conducted in the green house of the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, during winter 2025. A total of 10 maize genotypes (PBG-575, PBG-9608, PBG-477, PBG-1020, PBG-238, PBG-150, PBG-6189, PBG-31, PBG-76 and PBG-240) were treated with four priming treatments (control, hydropriming, halopriming with 50 mM CaCl₂ and osmopriming with 2% KNO₃) and exposed to three salinity levels (0, 100 mM, and 150 mM NaCl). Data were recorded for different morphological and physiological responses and analyzed using three-way ANOVA and correlation analysis. Results refined that hydropriming and halopriming effectively alleviated the substantial detrimental effects exerted by saline conditions on seedling growth, vigor and biochemical content. Among genotypes, PBG-238 and PBG-477 exhibited superior salt tolerance while genotypes PBG-1020, PBG-6189, PBG-31 and PBG-76 were highly sensitive. Increase in salinity stress elevated the detrimental impact on seedlings. Among the applied seed priming treatments halopriming and hydropriming showed optimal influence on seed performance. The study indicates the potential of integrating seed priming with salt-tolerant genotypes for improved maize establishment in saline conditions.
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