## 4 Discussion
As discussed above, current findings revealed significant activities of certain ROS and their respective counterparts (antioxidant enzymes), indicating considerable influence of AGE on the cellular processes of the treated seeds during seed germination and early seedling growth. When the seeds are subjected to concentrations ranging up to 200 \(\upmu\)g mL\({}^{-1}\), the redox balance of the seedlings is maintained, resulting in a boosted growth pattern of the obtained seedlings. However, at higher concentrations, the balance is perturbed, inhibiting the growth of the seedlings. Similarly, MeJA and SA result differently depending on the priming duration, which influence the ROS abundance and antioxidant enzymes activities. These findings further signify that priming induces biological influence on the eggplant seeds and confirms AGE as a bio-stimulant to alter the redox potential of the resulting seedlings. Seed germination is a complex process and should be understood as the basic phenomenon to establish plant growth and development [2]. In horticultural produce, particularly in vegetable production, different crops encounter autotoxicity due to continuous cropping such as observed in the eggplant [68]. Thus, seed germination is sometimes negatively impacted by these hurdles, causing a significant reduction in the seedling development and plant production [69]. Intercropping with garlic has been reported to overcome these obstacles in eggplant production and garlic root exudates are reported to influence numerous physiological responses in these plants [31; 70]. However, intercropping may sometimes compromise the space and nutrients from the cropping system and affect the producibility of the desired crops. As our results show significant responses in the eggplant seedlingsphysiological and morphological growth patterns, it can be suggested that the application of AGE as a seed priming agent could possibly be a more effective way to overcome certain challenges during early growth of eggplant production and may therefore be proposed as alternative to intercropped garlic. Moreover, application of SA and MeJA has been reported to enhance seed germination and overcome various stress conditions, nevertheless, it can be noticed that the application of these substances is condition specific and, therefore, so is the resulted roles of these substances [71; 72; 73]. Current findings strongly suggest that the potential of AGE to stimulate the cellular metabolism is comparatively higher to those of the SA and MeJA and thus, indicate a promising role of AGE as a biological compound to stimulate and enhance the plant growth and development. Furthermore, garlic extracts contain carbohydrates, sugars, vitamins, minerals, and organosulfur compounds [39; 74; 75]. Application of these substances may improve the plant growth and enhance photosynthates abundance resulting in a pronounced growth [42]. The presence of allelochemicals such as DADS can trigger numerous physiological and molecular responses in the subject plants, enhancing cellular division and roots elongation [34; 35], indicating that AGE is biologically active inside the plant cells. Nevertheless, the biological effects of AGE depend on concentration, hence exposure to high concentrations may negatively influence the miniature plants during seed germination. Usage of AGE as a priming agent to induce biological processes during seed germination, however, requires future advanced study approaches such as cell division or genetic approaches and our results therefore lay foundations not only to understand these processes, but also to prepare a garlic derived seed priming agent for enhanced vegetable production, in particular under plastic tunnel or greenhouse production units.