Abstract:
: Pathogenic agents cause an increased risk of various fatal diseases and there is a need to reduce this risk using
medicinal plants and their seeds. The present research work was designed to study the efficacy of different sunflower
seed hybrid varieties (i.e. FH622, FH620, FH615, FH613 and FH545) chemically primed with potassium nitrate as
natural antioxidant and antimicrobial agent. Antioxidant potential was determined using DPPH test, reducing power,
TPC and TFC. Antibacterial activity was determined against Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial species. After
one week, the germination data including mean germination and percentage of final emergence was calculated. It was
found that seed varieties FH620 and FH615 have higher values of mean germination as compared to FH545 while
FH615 has higher percentage of final emergence as compared to FH620 and FH545. High phenolic and flavonoid
contents were observed in FH620 and FH615 as compared to FH545 variety. It was also observed that seed variety
FH615 when treated with KNO3 solution had significantly high germination as well as antioxidant parameters and
antibacterial activity as compared to other varieties. Similarly FH615 showed high antibacterial activities against Grampositive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli bacteria. This study showed that all selected
sunflower hybrids have good antioxidant and antibacterial potentials that would further be used for different trials to cure
different pathogen related diseases, and these are natural sources of antioxidants for commercial and therapeutic
applications.
