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Sporobolus arabicus Boiss., a perennial stoloniferous grass, is widely distributed in saline areas from Karachi to the plains of the Punjab, Pakistan. It is one of the important components of the vegetation of salt flats and deserts. Experiments were carried out to determine the ability of growth promoter substances to alleviate a primary and salinity- enforced dormancy in seeds of Sporobolus arabicus. Sporobolus arabicus exhibited primary seed dormancy, yielding less than 40% germination in the non-saline control. The growth regulators gibberellic acid (GA(3)), kinetin and ethephon were unable to break the dormancy of seeds. but nitrate, thiourea, and fusicoccin partially alleviated dormancy. Salinity was not inhibitory at 100 mM NaCl but inhibited germination at higher concentrations, with no seeds germinating at 400 mM NaCl. Salinity,enforced dormancy was not alleviated by kinetin, GA(3), and ethephon. Fusicoccin, nitrate, and thiourea significantly alleviated salinity-enforced dormancy and the velocity of germination also increased at all salinities in these treatments.