Data from 'Quantifying the potential of 'on-farm' seed priming to increase crop performance in developing countries. A meta-analysis'

Abstract

Over the past three decades, there has been a renewed interest in a traditional agronomic technique known as ‘on-farm’ seed priming, in part because of its simplicity and low-cost. ‘On-farm’ seed priming is a form of hydro-priming, which consists of soaking seeds in water for a number of hours, usually overnight, surface drying them (to allow limited storage) and sowing soon after. To date, only narrative reviews about ‘on-farm’ seed priming have been published; therefore, a more systematic approach, such as meta-analysis, is needed to quantitatively review this simple technology in terms of increased crop establishment and production. Meta-analysis is a powerful synthesis tool that is being increasingly adopted in agro-ecological disciplines, and using this approach will allow a large number of independent ‘on-farm’ seed priming case studies to be objectively analysed across different crop types and environments. A better understanding of the potential of ‘on-farm’ seed priming, and in which environments it could be most usefully promoted, could provide governmental institutions and policymakers in developing countries with the evidence to promote its adoption as recommended practice. The dataset here presented was generated form a literature search about "'on-farm' seed priming” carried out in ‘Web of Science Core Collection’ on 15 November 2017. This dataset contains 129 case studies from 44 papers containing paired comparison of unprimed vs. primed seed (17 crops across 10 countries in Asia and Africa).