Effect of hydro and osmopriming in Two commercial chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars on germination, growth parameters and nodules number in salt stress condition

The Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a particularly important crop in semi-arid and arid regions of world and is highly sensitive to salinity stress. Recently, priming of seed has been reported to be a simple technique for enhancing seedling establishment and crop production under stressed conditions. In this study, the changes in percentage and speed of germination and growth parameters in osmo (mannitol 4%) and hydro (water) primed chickpea seedlings under salt treatment (0, 25, 50 and 75 mM) were investigated. Results showed that compared to controls, salinity caused the reduction of speed and percentage germination of seeds, length, fresh and dry weights of shoots and roots of plants. In general, a salt dose- dependent decrease was observed in nodule number seedlings. Data on the effect of water and mannitol (4%) priming of chickpea seeds (12h at 25˚c) showed higher number of nodules in osmopriming seed compared to hydro priming and control seeds. Seedlings obtained from primed seeds with mannitol (osmopriming) and water (hydropriming) showed more growth with respect to fresh and dry weights root and shoot in comparison with seedling obtained from non-primed seeds under salinity stress conditions.