1 Introduction

Potato is a major food and cash crop whose productivity depends heavily on the physiological quality of planting material, especially the capacity of seed tubers to break dormancy rapidly and establish uniform seedlings. Slow or uneven sprouting delays emergence, weakens stand establishment, and ultimately reduces yield potential, making seed tuber management a central issue in potato production systems. This problem is particularly important because tuber dormancy persists even under favorable conditions and is shaped by both genotype and environment, while rapid and uniform sprouting is closely linked to vigorous early growth and better field performance (Yin et al., 2024). In parallel, postharvest dormancy is recognized as a practical constraint in commercial seed systems because timely sprouting is essential for synchronized crop establishment, especially where planting windows are narrow and storage conditions are suboptimal (Qayyum et al., 2025).

Research on seed potato treatment has therefore expanded from simple storage and presprouting practices to chemical, biological, and protective interventions designed to improve germination behavior and early crop growth. Growth regulator treatments have shown strong potential: polyacrylamide seed dressing increased sprouting rate, sprouting energy, emergence, and seedling growth, apparently through shifts in phytohormone balance and enhanced starch degradation that supplied soluble sugars for developing sprouts (Yin et al., 2024). Gibberellic acid has also emerged as a widely used dormancy-breaking agent, and recent optimization work showed that treatment efficacy depends on both concentration and exposure time, with 150 ppm GA₃ for 24 hours producing 98.33% sprouting and the shortest sprouting time together with improved sprout vigor traits.

Alongside hormonal treatments, other seed tuber management practices have demonstrated that the response of potato germination and early growth is shaped by both treatment type and seed condition. Pre-sprouting and use of whole seed tubers improved yield performance and increased secondary stems compared with cut and non-pregerminated seed, indicating that physical preparation before planting can influence early crop establishment and downstream tuber development (Diop et al., 2020). Likewise, fungicide-based protection remains important where seed decay and soil-borne pathogens limit emergence and vigor; over a decade of field experiments, fungicide seed treatment improved performance by reducing Fusarium seed decay and Rhizoctonia stem canker, and the authors concluded that fungicide treatment was the most important management factor regardless of whether seed was cut or planted whole (Duellman et al., 2021).

Despite this progress, the literature also shows that seed tuber treatment effects are not uniform across materials, methods, or production environments, which justifies further study on germination and early vegetative growth specifically. Some treatments stimulate sprouting and yield, but their success can depend on dosage, cultivar, and production context; for example, beneficial bacteria increased shoot and root biomass and raised yield in some soils, yet had no effect in peat soil or relatively dry soil, highlighting important environmental limits to treatment performance (Burr et al., 2025). Conversely, not all postharvest treatments are beneficial for establishment, since higher doses of SmartBlock^® reduced emergence percentage and affected photosynthetic traits and tuber weight in a cultivar-dependent manner (Mashishi et al., 2025). On this basis, the present study asks how seed tuber treatment influences germination percentage, emergence behavior, and early seedling growth of potato under the target production conditions. The working hypothesis is that appropriate seed tuber treatment will accelerate dormancy release, improve germination uniformity, and enhance early vegetative vigor, whereas unsuitable treatments or excessive dosages will delay emergence or suppress initial growth.

2 Materials and Methods

2.1 Experimental materials and seed potato sources

Healthy, uniform seed tubers of a single potato cultivar should be used to reduce variation unrelated to treatment effects. Previous potato treatment studies standardized seed origin by obtaining tubers from a research source and excluding damaged or diseased material before treatment, because initial tuber condition strongly influences dormancy behavior, sprouting uniformity, and early seedling establishment (Kiselev et al., 2024; Qayyum et al., 2025). Accordingly, only visually healthy tubers free of rot, wounds, shriveling, and abnormal sprouting should be selected for the present study.

Seed tuber size should also be standardized because tuber size affects germination rate, vegetative growth, and later yield performance. Field studies showed that larger tubers often emerge more rapidly and support stronger growth than smaller ones, while medium-sized classes can offer a practical balance between uniform establishment and economical seed use (Bist et al., 2023). Based on this evidence, medium and uniform tubers within a narrow weight range should be chosen as the experimental material.

The seed tubers should be collected from one seed lot or one certified source so that physiological age and storage history remain as consistent as possible across treatments. Work on aeroponic mini-tubers and conventional seed potatoes indicates that single-batch sourcing improves experimental comparability, while physiological age is important because sprouting readiness changes markedly with storage duration and prior handling (Zhu et al., 2023). For this reason, all tubers should be sourced from the same production season and stored under identical pre-experimental conditions.

Before treatment application, tubers should be stored in a cool, well-ventilated environment until use, and any tubers that sprout prematurely should be discarded. Storage management matters because uncontrolled sprouting during storage can lead to uneven plant growth, while pre-germination status at planting directly affects crop establishment and later daughter tuber performance (Diop et al., 2020; Mashishi et al., 2025). This procedure helps ensure that differences observed after planting arise from the imposed treatments rather than from inconsistent seed condition at the start of the experiment.

2.2 Design of seed potato treatment methods

The treatment structure should include an untreated control and several seed tuber treatments representing contrasting physiological or protective functions. Published studies evaluated GA₃ dipping, polyacrylamide dressing, and other dormancy-regulating treatments because these approaches can alter sprouting percentage, sprout growth, and emergence behavior when applied before planting (Yin et al., 2024). On this basis, the present experiment may compare a control with selected chemical or biological treatments intended to stimulate germination and improve early growth.

Treatment application must be standardized by concentration, duration, and method so that responses can be attributed to treatment intensity rather than inconsistent handling. Evidence from potato experiments shows that treatment effects depend strongly on dose and exposure period, and even beneficial regulators can become inhibitory when applied inappropriately (Qayyum et al., 2025). Therefore, each treatment should be prepared at a defined concentration and applied for a fixed time under the same environmental conditions.

Where seed protection is part of the treatment design, protective coatings or fungicidal seed treatments can be included alongside sprout-promoting treatments. Fungicide-based approaches improved seed health and reduced soil-borne infection without reducing germination, while long-term benefits included better crop quality and higher marketable yield (Duellman et al., 2021; Kiselev et al., 2024). Including such a treatment allows the experiment to assess whether improved early growth results from direct physiological stimulation, reduced pathogen pressure, or both.

Biological or low-input alternatives may also be incorporated if the study aims to compare conventional and accessible treatment options. Seed-piece bacterization increased early shoot and root biomass under some soil conditions, and natural pre-sprouting materials such as grass, banana leaves, and soil produced vigorous sprouts and improved crop emergence in chitted seed potatoes (Moletsane et al., 2022; Burr et al., 2025). After application, treated tubers should be air-dried briefly where required and then planted immediately or incubated uniformly for sprouting assessment.

2.3 Experimental design and statistical methods

The experiment should be arranged in a randomized design with adequate replication to minimize environmental bias and support valid statistical comparison among treatments. Potato studies of seed tuber size, growth regulators, and dormancy-breaking treatments commonly used randomized complete block design under field conditions and completely randomized design under more controlled environments, with three or four replications proving sufficient for treatment evaluation (Suliansyah et al., 2024). For a field-based trial on germination and early growth, a randomized complete block design with at least three replications is appropriate.

Each experimental unit should contain a fixed number of uniform seed tubers planted at the same depth and spacing, and observations should be recorded at regular intervals from planting through early vegetative development. Earlier methods recorded traits such as sprouting percentage, days to sprouting, sprout number and length, emergence percentage, plant height, stem number, and early biomass because these variables capture both dormancy release and initial crop vigor (Mashishi et al., 2025; Qayyum et al., 2025). These same parameters should be used in the present study to evaluate the influence of seed tuber treatment on germination and early growth.

Data should be subjected to analysis of variance to test for significant treatment effects, and treatment means should be separated using an appropriate post hoc procedure at the 5% probability level. Previous potato experiments analyzed comparable data sets with ANOVA and then used LSD or related mean-separation methods to distinguish treatment responses under randomized designs (Moletsane et al., 2022). This approach is suitable for germination, emergence, and growth variables measured in the current experiment.

If the study includes more than one experimental factor, such as treatment type and seed tuber size, factorial analysis should be used to test both main effects and interactions. Earlier potato experiments showed that factorial arrangements are useful when evaluating combined agronomic influences, and statistical analysis has been conducted successfully in both R and other standard agricultural software packages (Paudel et al., 2024; Abebe and Geleta, 2025). In sum, the Materials and Methods for this paper should use uniform seed material, clearly defined seed tuber treatments, and a randomized replicated design with ANOVA-based statistical testing.

3 Effects of Seed Potato Treatments on Emergence Characteristics

3.1 Analysis of changes in emergence rate

Seed potato treatments frequently increased final emergence relative to untreated controls, especially when they promoted dormancy release before planting. Polyacrylamide dressing raised seedling emergence to 86.67% and 93.33% in the two most effective treatments, exceeding the control by 18.18% and 27.27%, respectively (Yin et al., 2024). Similarly, chemical priming with GA₃ alone or combined with KNO₃ produced the highest emergence rates, reaching 78%-80% together with faster seedling establishment in a cultivar previously characterized by low field emergence (Talukder et al., 2025).

Not all treatments improved emergence percentage, which indicates that treatment effects depend strongly on treatment type and dose. In a controlled-environment study, a higher SmartBlock^® dose significantly reduced emergence percentage in the Mnandi cultivar, whereas lower doses still allowed full emergence in both tested cultivars (Mashishi et al., 2025). Physical and pre-planting treatments also improved field establishment in other systems, as fungicide-treated single-drop seed outperformed cut seed for emergence and vigor, while natural-material presprouting increased crop emergence compared with untreated controls (Duellman et al., 2021; Moletsane et al., 2022).

3.2 Emergence Uniformity and Timing Differences

Emergence uniformity improved when treatments advanced dormancy release and synchronized sprout initiation before planting. Uniform emergence is agronomically important because consistent crop establishment supports more efficient field management and stronger early canopy development. Postharvest treatments of mini-tuber seed with ABA raised germination to 97.33%, while the same study concluded that these approaches can optimize germination uniformity during extended dormancy management (Zhu et al., 2023).

Several studies showed that emergence timing shifted substantially with presprouting or physiological aging treatments. Pre-sprouting and thermal shock shortened time to emergence by up to 10 days, and in another study these same treatments accelerated emergence by 2-5 days and 7-12 days, respectively, compared with untreated seed tubers. GA₃ treatment also reduced time to first sprout emergence, with the 150 ppm for 24 h treatment giving the shortest sprouting time at 20.45 days, while magnetic-field exposure at 150 mT for 72 h reduced emergence times to 14.0 and 17.0 days in two cultivars versus 31.8 and 39.5 days in controls (Bahadir et al., 2020; Qayyum et al., 2025).

3.3 Emergence kinetics

Emergence kinetics in potato follow a structured pattern rather than a single uniform process, and seed tuber treatments appear to act by shortening early delays and increasing subsequent sprout growth. Sprout emergence can be described by an initial lag phase followed by a period of rapid linear elongation, with the lag period shortened by warmer seed conditions and suitable sprout status at planting. This framework helps explain why dormancy-breaking treatments accelerate visible emergence: they likely reduce the pre-emergence lag and increase the rate of sprout extension.

Experimental evidence supports this kinetic interpretation. Polyacrylamide increased sprouting speed and energy, with treated tubers already sprouting by day 15 while controls had not yet sprouted, and maximum sprouting energy reached 52.00%, 7.67 times the control (Yin et al., 2024). Combined BAP and GA₃ treatment shortened dormancy by 9.6 days and was the most effective of several forcing techniques, while starch declined and soluble sugars increased as sprouting commenced, linking faster emergence kinetics to reserve mobilization during dormancy break (Haider et al., 2023).

4 Effects of Seed Potato Treatments on Seedling Morphological Indices

4.1 Changes in plant height and stem diameter

Seed potato treatments altered early shoot morphology most clearly through changes in plant height and stem thickness. Polyacrylamide seed dressing improved both traits during early growth, with plant height increasing by 8.1% and 15.3% and stem diameter by 11.9% and 20.0% under the PAM20 and PAM30 treatments, respectively, relative to the untreated control (Yin et al., 2024). In a separate study, the combination of tuber treatment with the growth regulator Emistim C, mineral fertilization, and later foliar nutrition produced the greatest linear growth, raising plant height to 79.2 and 75.0 cm, which exceeded the control by 9.2 and 8.2 cm in the two tested cultivars (Vdovenko et al., 2022).

Not all seed tuber treatments increased shoot elongation, because some regulators intentionally restricted canopy growth while preserving compact plant architecture. Paclobutrazol treatment of sprouted seed tubers reduced stem length by about 18%, 25%, 51%, and 55% across increasing doses compared with the control, and the treated plants remained smaller and more compact throughout the cycle. Broader morpho-physiological screening also identified main stem diameter as one of the strongest descriptors of seed potato plant performance, indicating that this trait is a sensitive index for evaluating treatment effects on early vigor (Filho et al., 2024).

4.2 Leaf development and leaf area index

Seed potato treatments also changed leaf development by accelerating canopy formation and modifying the size and timing of the assimilatory surface. Field trials comparing untreated tubers with thermal shock and pre-sprouting showed that pre-planting treatments stimulated haulm development during the early period, and both treatments resulted in larger leaf area index than the untreated control. The timing of maximum LAI also shifted with treatment, as the LAI peak occurred at 72 days after planting in pre-sprouted plants, 73 days in thermal-shock plants, and 76 days in untreated plants, showing that treated seed tubers formed their canopy earlier (Figure 1) (Yin et al., 2024).

Other evidence indicates that leaf-surface responses depend on both treatment and physiological state of the seed material. Biostimulant application increased average LAI by 0.30 over the untreated control and enlarged the assimilation area, although the magnitude of response varied by cultivar and weather conditions after emergence. In contrast, advanced seed-tuber age reduced leaf area and leaf number in individual plants, while auxin treatment of older seed pieces increased average leaf area per leaf and partly restored a younger growth pattern, showing that treatment effects on foliage can be either promotive or corrective depending on initial seed status.

4.3 Root morphological structure

Root morphological structure is a central part of early seedling performance because potato root systems are relatively shallow and highly responsive to growing conditions and treatment-induced shifts in plant development. Potato root architecture depends on the growth and branching of adventitious and lateral roots, and maximum root development occurs mainly within the first six weeks after seed-tuber planting, which coincides with the period when seed tuber treatments are most likely to influence establishment (Joshi et al., 2016). Root development is also coordinated internally, since the length of adventitious roots correlates positively with lateral root length and lateral root number, making overall root structure a useful integrated indicator of treatment response.

Direct treatment studies support the view that seed or growth-regulator interventions can modify root traits together with shoot vigor. Exogenous gibberellic acid at 200 ppm, applied at 45 and 60 days after sowing, produced superior root architecture parameters and dry-matter accumulation compared with other growth-regulation treatments (Singh et al., 2024). Auxin treatment of older seedcores stimulated root growth, whereas paclobutrazol shifted a larger proportion of dry matter to roots at several sampling dates, suggesting that different seed tuber treatments can enhance root development either by restoring vigor or by redirecting assimilate partitioning.

5 Effects of Seed Potato Treatments on Physiological and Biochemical Characteristics

5.1 Changes in photosynthetic characteristics

Seed potato treatments influenced photosynthetic characteristics mainly by altering chlorophyll accumulation, leaf gas exchange, and the duration of active carbon assimilation during early growth. Endophytic enrichment of seed minitubers with Bacillus subtilis increased leaf photosynthetic pigments, including chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotenoids, while also expanding total leaf area after planting (Pusenkova et al., 2023). Likewise, PGPR seed coating raised SPAD values by 20.22% and net photosynthetic rate by 32.22% at flowering, indicating that seed-applied beneficial microbes can enhance both pigment status and functional photosynthetic capacity (Hu et al., 2026).

Treatment effects on photosynthesis were also mediated by the surrounding growth environment, which changed the efficiency with which seedlings used light and maintained gas exchange. Under controlled production conditions, red-blue-white LED combinations produced the highest total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotenoid accumulation in pre-basic seed tuber production systems (Rahman et al., 2021). More broadly, net photosynthetic rate in potato typically rises under favorable atmospheric enrichment but declines later in growth, while warming combined with elevated CO₂ improves water-use efficiency and maximum photosynthetic capacity compared with warming alone.

5.2 Antioxidant system response

Seed potato-related treatments also modified the antioxidant defense system, especially when seedlings or tubers were exposed to abiotic or biotic stress. PGPR application maintained higher activities of catalase, peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase in drought-stressed potato plants, alongside higher chlorophyll, soluble proteins, and total soluble sugars than untreated plants. A similar pattern was observed with root-applied thiourea, which further increased SOD, POD, and CAT activity while lowering malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide under drought, indicating that treatment-enhanced antioxidant protection can reduce oxidative membrane damage (Saleem et al., 2022).

Direct tuber treatment studies support the same mechanism at the seed level. Proline application to bacterium-infected potato tubers reduced MDA and H₂O₂ by 53.6% and 55.9% and strongly increased SOD, POD, CAT, and related defense enzymes, showing that pretreatment of tubers can directly strengthen oxidative defense before further growth (Osei et al., 2023). Exogenous sucrose pretreatment likewise reduced ROS accumulation and electrolyte leakage in heat-stressed potato seedlings while maintaining higher SOD, CAT, APX, and POD activities, suggesting that antioxidant stabilization is a common biochemical route by which protective treatments preserve early vigor (Gong and Chen, 2021).

5.3 Nutrient metabolism

Seed potato treatments affected nutrient metabolism by changing reserve mobilization, nutrient acquisition, and assimilate redistribution during establishment and early growth. Polyacrylamide treatment promoted starch degradation and carbohydrate conversion in seed tubers, increasing soluble sugar content and respiration intensity to supply energy for sprouting and early seedling development (Yin et al., 2024). This finding is consistent with the broader view that potato tuber dormancy breakage is closely linked to respiration and sugar metabolism, because sprouting begins when stored reserves are converted into metabolically available substrates (Yin et al., 2024).

Other seed and crop treatments enhanced external nutrient uptake and internal nutrient partitioning after establishment. PGPR seed coating increased N and P translocation to tubers by 17.13% and 50.48%, and the CM2 treatment raised tuber N and P accumulation by 66.74% and 55.25%, respectively (Hu et al., 2026). Similarly, endophyte enrichment of seed minitubers increased the accumulation of N, P, K, Cu, and Fe in harvested tubers, while balanced NPK nutrition enhanced chlorophyll, sucrose content, sucrose enzyme activity, and tuber starch content, indicating that treatment effects on nutrient metabolism extend from early nutrient capture to final assimilate quality (Pusenkova et al., 2023).

6 Comparative Analysis of Different Seed Potato Treatment Methods

6.1 Comparison of physical and chemical treatment effects

Physical and chemical seed potato treatments both modified dormancy release and early establishment, but they appeared to act through different primary pathways. Physical approaches such as plasma exposure and variable-temperature management improved seedling performance or preserved seed vitality by changing the postharvest or pre-emergence environment, whereas chemical treatments more directly altered hormonal balance and reserve mobilization (Zhu et al., 2023; Rashid and Talukder, 2024). In practice, this means physical treatments often provide broader conditioning effects, while chemical treatments tend to give faster and more targeted responses in sprouting and emergence.

Among chemical methods, growth-regulator-based treatments consistently produced strong gains in sprouting speed and early growth. GA₃ alone or with KNO₃ generated the fastest emergence at 14-15 days and the highest emergence rates of 78%-80%, while GA₃ at 50 ppm reduced first sprout emergence to 13.38 days compared with 28.28 days in the control (Talukder et al., 2025). These results indicate that chemical priming is especially effective when the main goal is rapid dormancy break and vigorous shoot initiation.

Physical treatments, however, showed more variable outcomes because their effect depended strongly on treatment type and intensity. Combined plasma treatment increased plant length, stem diameter, chlorophyll, sugars, proteins, minerals, and yield by 23.95% in second-generation seed systems, whereas high-dose SmartBlock^® reduced emergence percentage and limited stomatal conductance, CO₂ assimilation, and tuber weight in some cultivars (Rashid and Talukder, 2024; Mashishi et al., 2025). This contrast suggests that physical treatments can be beneficial, but their operating range is narrower and less uniformly promotive than that of the most effective chemical dormancy-breaking agents.

Some physical or quasi-physical methods offered advantages beyond simple emergence acceleration by improving storage behavior or reducing physiological damage. Variable-temperature treatment maintained lower relative conductivity and balanced postharvest performance in aeroponic mini-tuber seed, while ethylene gassing suppressed apical dominance, increased stems per plant by 19.9%-36.0%, and raised yield by 9.9%-19.0% depending on variety and management level (Zhu et al., 2023). Thus, compared with direct chemical priming, these methods appear more useful where uniformity, stem architecture, or longer storage management are as important as emergence speed itself.

6.2 Effects of single vs. combined treatments

Single treatments often improved one major stage of establishment, especially when the active factor directly targeted dormancy. GA₃ alone was identified as one of the most effective single priming strategies for breaking dormancy and accelerating emergence in BARI Alu-62, and ABA alone raised mini-tuber germination to 97.33% under postharvest management conditions (Zhu et al., 2023; Talukder et al., 2025). These findings show that a well-chosen single treatment can be highly effective when the production constraint is narrow and clearly defined.

Combined treatments, however, more often produced broader or stronger responses because they acted on multiple mechanisms at the same time. The combined application of BAP and GA₃ shortened dormancy by 9.6 days and outperformed cold pretreatment, electric shock, and irradiation, while BE+GA₃ both shortened dormancy and promoted sprout elongation through coordinated changes in hormone signaling and carbohydrate metabolism (Haider et al., 2023; Zhang et al., 2025). This pattern indicates that combinations are especially useful when both dormancy release and subsequent sprout growth must be improved together.

Synergistic effects were also evident in treatments that paired seed treatment with later crop support rather than combining two dormancy-breaking compounds alone. In plasma-based work, seed treatment plus foliar plasma-activated water increased growth, pigments, soluble sugars, proteins, minerals, and yield relative to single-generation or untreated controls, while composite PGPR coatings outperformed chemical biocide and single-microbe treatments in yield and economic return (Rashid and Talukder, 2024; Hu et al., 2026). These studies suggest that integration across crop stages can produce larger gains than optimizing the seed phase in isolation.

Even so, combined approaches are not automatically superior, because the added benefit must justify extra complexity. Natural chitting materials improved sprout vigor, emergence, plant height, and yield and were explicitly recommended for smallholders, whereas PGR-based methods were presented as more suitable for growers with better facilities (Moletsane et al., 2022). Therefore, the value of combined treatment depends not only on biological synergy but also on whether the production system can reliably implement the extra steps.

6.3 Cost-benefit and application feasibility

Cost-benefit differences among treatment methods were substantial, and feasibility depended as much on labor, infrastructure, and seed cost as on biological performance. Seed tubers account for about 40% of production costs, and in seed-oriented systems economic viability must be evaluated alongside agronomic response rather than after it (Boubaker et al., 2023; Sadawarti et al., 2024). For that reason, the most effective treatment biologically is not always the most practical choice for farmers or seed producers.Low-input or biologically based options often appeared attractive because they reduced dependence on costly chemical inputs while maintaining acceptable performance. Biofertilizers were described as eco-friendly and cost-effective, and PGPR seed coating increased income by 9,742.84 CNY/ha over the untreated control across two years while also improving yield by 36.13% (Boubaker et al., 2023; Hu et al., 2026). These results support microbial or biofertilizer-based strategies where local supply chains and formulation quality are reliable.

Application method strongly influenced feasibility even when the active treatment itself was effective. In late blight management, seed dipping reduced treatment cost by 87.5% relative to pericardial injection, and dipping was four times more profitable despite injection producing somewhat higher yield. This shows that simpler delivery systems can outperform technically stronger methods once labor and operational efficiency are included in the comparison.

High-technology systems offered clear technical advantages but faced narrower economic windows. In vitro and micropropagation approaches can accelerate multiplication, improve phytosanitary quality, and reduce costs in some contexts, yet large-scale commercial deployment has repeatedly faced high infrastructure costs, contamination risk, and logistical barriers. Overall, the most feasible seed potato treatments are those that balance biological effectiveness, operational simplicity, and farm-level profitability under the intended production system.

7 Case Study: Application of Typical Seed Potato Treatment Models in Production

7.1 Study area and production context

A typical production setting for seed tuber treatment is a region with multiple cropping cycles, where the interval between harvest and replanting is too short for natural dormancy release. In Ethiopia, potato is grown two or more times per year, but long dormancy of improved varieties and limited access to quality planting material restrict timely reuse of harvested tubers as seed (Mustefa et al., 2017). A similar constraint appears in Pakistan, where multiple-year cropping systems require seed tubers to sprout soon after harvest, making dormancy control central to sustaining crop cycles (Haider et al., 2022; Hussain et al., 2026).

Seed system structure further determines which treatment model is realistic in practice. In the tropics and subtropics, producers often depend on informal seed sources and face high certified-seed costs, whereas controlled soilless systems are proposed to expand access to high-quality starting material (Wasilewska-Nascimento et al., 2020). Aeroponic mini-tuber production is especially relevant in this context because it offers high-quality initial seed and shorter production cycles, but these seeds also require careful postharvest handling to preserve vigor and regulate sprouting before planting (Zhu et al., 2023).

Local production scale and infrastructure also affect treatment choice. In Kenya, natural chitting materials and plant growth regulators both improved presprouting, but the low-input materials were presented as more accessible for smallholders, while PGR-based approaches better fit growers with stronger technical capacity (Moletsane et al., 2022). In northwest India, where Punjab supplies about 60% of the country’s seed requirement, treatment models are evaluated not only for emergence effects but also for how efficiently they increase the proportion and output of seed-size tubers (Singh et al., 2024).

Precision management represents a different production context, one defined less by dormancy constraints than by within-field variability. In Belgium, site-specific seeding was tested by assigning denser or wider spacing according to management zones derived from soil and crop sensing, creating a treatment model that adjusted seed use spatially rather than chemically or physiologically. This shows that in commercial seed potato systems, “seed treatment” can extend beyond tuber priming to include placement strategies designed to match field heterogeneity and target profitable size classes (Munnaf et al., 2021).

7.2 Application of treatment models in actual production

One common production model combines chemical dormancy breaking with adapted storage. In Ethiopian field and farm-based trials, treating tubers with 20 ppm GA₃ and then storing them under diffused light, pit storage, or farmyard manure accelerated sprouting and improved subsequent yield, showing that treatment success depended on the interaction between the regulator and the storage environment (Mustefa et al., 2017). Related work in the Ethiopian highlands found that both pre-harvest haulm application and postharvest dipping with GA₃ reduced dormancy and hastened emergence, indicating that this model can be implemented at more than one stage of the seed cycle.

A second model relies on biological seed coating to improve seedling establishment after planting. Composite PGPR coatings increased nutrient availability, photosynthetic performance, biomass accumulation, and tuber nutrient translocation in a two-year field study, supporting their use as scalable seed-phase inputs rather than only as laboratory treatments (Hu et al., 2026). Earlier seedpiece bacterization work reached a similar practical conclusion, with selected Pseudomonas strains increasing shoot and root growth in greenhouse soil and raising field yield in several plots, although benefits weakened in peat or dry soil (Burr et al., 2025).

A third model integrates seed treatment with foliar or nutrient support during crop growth. In Bolivia, the strongest treatment combined Maxim seed treatment with foliar Tricobal, indicating that seed-applied protection and later physiological stimulation can work together under field conditions. A similar integrated schedule was reported for humic-acid biostimulant use in India, where seed treatment plus two foliar sprays improved emergence, nutrient availability, and yield, including under a reduced fertilizer regime.

A fourth model focuses on spatially targeted seed deployment rather than biochemical tuber treatment. In Belgian seed potato production, map-based site-specific seeding increased yield and economic return compared with uniform seeding, supporting the use of sensing-guided spacing prescriptions in commercial practice (Munnaf et al., 2021). Comparable results were reported for consumption potato, where site-specific seeding improved yields, saved seed costs, and raised net return, suggesting that this management logic is transferable across production objectives (Munnaf et al., 2020).

7.3 Analysis of yield and economic benefits

The clearest yield gains were reported when dormancy-breaking treatments were matched to the production environment. In Ethiopia, 20 ppm GA₃ combined with different storage methods increased marketable yield by 29.6%-33.6% in one variety and by 78.4%-92.5% in another, while the best single combination produced 34.20 t/ha (Mustefa et al., 2017). In northwest India, GA₃ at 200 mg/L applied during crop growth increased total tuber yield by 34.9% and raised seed production efficiency, showing that regulator-based gains can also be targeted specifically toward seed-size output (Singh et al., 2024).

Biological and biostimulant models also generated measurable economic benefits. Combined PGPR coatings increased yield by 36.13% over the untreated control and raised income by 9,742.84 CNY/ha across two years, indicating that seed coating can translate agronomic benefits into farm-level profit (Hu et al., 2026). Seed treatment with the biostimulator Supporter increased total yield by 13.3% and commercial yield by 21.1%, supporting the practical value of seed-applied growth enhancers in conventional production systems.

Economic performance depended not only on yield magnitude but also on input cost and marketable tuber distribution. In seed potato systems, site-specific seeding produced net returns of 4,995 and 4,947 €/ha for two sensing-based approaches, both above the 4,528 €/ha under uniform seeding, and one approach also reduced seeding cost (Munnaf et al., 2021). In broader potato production, site-specific seeding increased gross margin by 137.81-457.83 €/ha, with the highest profitability in lower-productivity fields, indicating that precision deployment is especially useful where uniform seeding wastes seed or mismatches field potential (Munnaf et al., 2021).

Feasibility and safety remain part of the benefit calculation. Aeroponic systems can reduce dependence on imported seed and lower field-generation pressure, but they still require site-specific economic assessment before large-scale adoption (Wasilewska-Nascimento et al., 2020). Chemical seed treatment can protect crops during early growth and, in the case of imidacloprid FS, showed low chronic dietary risk to consumers, although ecological caution was warranted because earthworm toxicity was low to moderate rather than negligible.

8 Conclusion and Future Prospects

Seed tuber treatment consistently influenced dormancy release, sprouting, and emergence, which are the foundation of uniform stand establishment. Polyacrylamide increased sprouting rate and sprouting energy while also promoting emergence and early seedling growth through changes in phytohormones and starch degradation. Magnetic field treatment also shortened emergence time and improved plant height and chlorophyll content, with 150 mT for 72 h producing the best overall response in two cultivars. Growth responses after emergence were likewise shaped by both treatment intensity and treatment mechanism. Combined agronomic intensification using tuber treatment, fertilizer, and foliar nutrition increased plant height, tuber number, and yield, whereas some regulators such as paclobutrazol reduced plant height and produced more compact canopies that may suit dense planting systems. Seed physiological status also mattered, because older seed tubers produced plants with reduced shoot, root, and leaf growth, and auxin treatment only partly restored a younger plant form.

The evidence further shows that treatment effects extend beyond sprouting into canopy development, root growth, and tuber productivity. Pre-planting treatments accelerated field emergence and altered leaf area index formation, while root architecture studies showed that the first six weeks after planting are the critical period for root system development and thus a likely window for treatment effects on resource capture. Across production-oriented studies, successful treatment commonly translated into higher marketable yield or seed-sized tuber output, although the size of the benefit varied strongly with variety, environment, and management combination. Dormancy breaking was most effective when chemical, physical, or environmental treatments matched cultivar and storage conditions. GA₃ repeatedly shortened dormancy and promoted sprout growth, but genotype-specific responses were common, and lower-cost natural materials or thermal approaches also worked in some systems, . Combined treatments often outperformed single interventions, especially when they jointly modified hormonal balance and reserve mobilization, but some treatments that accelerated sprouting did not always improve later emergence or yield after planting.

For practical seed potato production, treatment choice should begin with the production objective rather than with a single preferred input. Where the main constraint is prolonged dormancy under tight cropping intervals, GA₃-based treatment appears to be the most consistently effective option, especially when combined with suitable storage methods such as diffused light storage, pit storage, or farmyard manure. In double-cropping systems, medium and large whole tubers are preferable to very small tubers because they sprout earlier, establish faster, and produce much higher marketable yields. Where input cost or technical access is limited, simpler methods should be prioritized. Natural chitting materials such as soil, grass, and banana leaves improved sprout vigor, emergence, and yield and were identified as suitable for smallholder use, whereas more intensive PGR-based methods fit larger operations with better facilities. In aeroponic or minituber systems, rapid dormancy release protocols are especially important because the interval between harvest and replanting is short, but postharvest handling must also protect tuber quality during storage.

Treatment selection should also account for the desired plant architecture and field management system. When excessive shoot growth is undesirable, low-dose paclobutrazol can generate smaller, more compact plants without reducing tuber quality, which may be useful in high-density planting systems. For seed systems targeting physiological vigor and nutrient efficiency, composite biological treatments or growth-regulator-supported nutrient programs are promising because they improve photosynthetic performance, nutrient accumulation, and economic return in addition to emergence traits. A final production recommendation is that treatment protocols should be validated locally before broad adoption. Several studies showed clear varietal differences in dormancy duration and treatment response, and some methods that worked well at small scale were described as difficult to apply to large seed volumes. Therefore, extension recommendations should specify cultivar, tuber size, storage condition, and farm scale instead of promoting a single universal treatment package.

Future research should focus first on genotype-by-treatment interactions, because varietal response remains one of the strongest sources of uncertainty across the literature. Studies have shown that dormancy duration, hormonal status, and response to treatment differ substantially among varieties and across seed physiological ages, yet many experiments still include only a small number of cultivars or one season. More multi-location and multi-season trials are needed to identify treatments that are robust rather than only locally successful. A second priority is to strengthen mechanistic work linking treatment responses to hormone metabolism, reserve conversion, and root development. Current evidence shows that dormancy release involves shifts in auxin, cytokinin, gibberellin, starch, and soluble sugars, while successful early growth depends on coordinated root and shoot development. Integrating biochemical assays with root phenotyping and standardized growth characterization could clarify why some treatments improve emergence but not final yield.

Research should also move beyond efficacy alone toward application feasibility and safety. Some chemical dormancy-breaking agents have recognized environmental or human-health concerns, and even effective treatments may fail economically if they are laborious or poorly suited to large seed lots. Comparative trials should therefore include profitability, labor demand, seed health, and scalability alongside sprouting and yield outcomes. Future work should pay more attention to integrated seed management models rather than isolated seed treatments. Precision seeding, aeroponic seed production, and combined treatment-storage systems all indicate that seed tuber performance is shaped by a chain of decisions extending from postharvest handling to field deployment. The most useful future advances will likely come from protocols that combine effective dormancy control, seed quality preservation, and system-specific economic feasibility under real production conditions.

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