Experimental site: The experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory of the Department of Agronomy, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh, during the period from November 2009 to April 2010 under irrigated condition. The experiment was carried out in medium high land belonging to the Old Brahmaputra floodplain, Agro-Ecological Zone (AEZ)-9 having non calcareous dark gray soil (UNDP and FAO, 1998). The soil was sandy loam with pH value 6.5. The climate of the experimental site is characterized by relatively low rainfall and low temperature from December to March. Plant materials The materials used in the study were wheat and barley seeds which were collected from the Agronomy Field Laboratory of the Department of Agronomy, BAU, Mymensingh. The initial seed moisture content was in between 10-12%. The seeds were fresh, clean, and disease and insect free. Seed priming Hydropriming applied to wheat and barley seeds viz., 0, 6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 hrs. For, pre-sowing seed priming 180 g seeds of wheat and barley were soaked in distilled water for 0, 6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 hrs separately at room temperature. After completing the priming seeds were sown for seedling emergence.
Cultivation procedure: The experimental plot was thoroughly prepared by ploughing with power tiller followed by harrowing and laddering. After laddering, the weeds and the stubble of previous crops were removed from the land. Recommended doses of fertilizers and manures were applied at 200, 150, 80, 50 and 10000 kg of urea, triple super phosphate, muriate of potash, gypsum and cowdung, respectively. Half amount of urea, entire amount of other fertilizers and cowdung were applied to the soil at the time of final land preparation. The rest of the urea was top dressed in two equal splits at tillering stage and at booting stage of wheat and barley plant. The experiment was set up in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The plot size was 1 m x1 m. The distance between two plots was 25 cm. Pre-sowing hydro-primed seeds of wheat and barley were sown in the field on 22 November 2009. Intercultural practices were done uniformly for all plots. Thinning was done 25 days after sowing. Weeding was done as and when necessary. The crop was irrigated two times, one at the crown root initiation stage and the other at peak tillering stage.
Data collection Wheat and barley crops matured at different times. So harvesting of wheat and barley was done on 30 March and 04 April, 2010, respectively. Five plants from each plot were randomly selected to collect data on plant parameters and these were harvested by uprooting. The whole plots were harvested to assess grain and straw yields. Data on seedling emergence, plant height, number of tillers hill-1, number of fertile tillers hill-1, number of non fertile tillers hill-1, panicle length, number of spikelets spike-1, number of fertile spikelets spike-1, grain spike-1, 1000-grain weight, straw yield, grain yield, biological yield and harvest index were collected from experimental plots and selected plants.
Statistical analysis The collected data were compiled and tabulated. Statistical analysis was done on various plant characters to find out the significance of variance resulting from the experimental treatments. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique with the help of computer package programme MSTAT-C (software) (Russel and Freed, 1986) and the mean differences were adjudged by Duncan's Multiple Range Test (DMRT) as laid out by Gomez and Gomez (1984).