Effect of different hydropriming times on the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

In dry land areas of the western half of Iran, chickpea due to exposure to rotation with wheat and barley play an important role in maintaining survival of agriculture in these regions. Seed priming is a simple and cheap method and is highly efficient and acceptable, especially in areas with low fertility. In this study, effects of different times of hydropriming on yield, yield components, phenological characteristics and percentage of protein of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) were examined in a randomized complete block design with three replicates in 2010. Seeds of chickpea were exposed at six different hydropriming times (2 h, 4 h, 6 h, 8 h, 10 h and control). The results of this experiment showed that the effect of hydropriming treatments for main branch and lateral branch number, number of pod per plant, biological yield, grain yield, time from planting to emergence, emergence to flowering, flowering to bloom and pod forming and growth length was significant. However, there was no significant difference between treatments in terms of plant height, number of seed per pod, number of empty pod, seed thousand weight, harvesting index, pod forming to seed pods and blooming to maturity, and percentage of seed protein.