Effects of Seed Hydropriming and Nitrogen and Betaine Foliar Application on Yield Quality and Quantity of Adel Cultivar of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) under Rainfed Conditions in Lorestan Province

This study was performed in a factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replications on Adel chickpea cultivar during 2017-2018. Seed priming consisted of two levels (non-priming and hydropriming) and spraying nitrogen and glycine betaine with six levels (no spraying, as control, zero concentration (water spray), 3% urea, 100 mM glycine betaine, 200 mM glycine betaine, and glycine betaine 200 mM + urea 3%). Interaction of priming by foliar application on biological and grain yields was significant at 1%probabilitylevel.The highest biological yield (2668kg.ha-1) and grain yield (1301 kg.ha-1) were obtained with combined priming and consumption of 200 mM glycine + 3% urea and the lowest yield was related to non-priming and non-spraying priming. Priming also improved the harvest index, number of seeds per plant, number of pods per plant, 100-seed weight and number of active nodules. The effect of foliar application of plants by glycine betaine and urea on number of grains per pod and grain protein percentage was significant. The highest values of these traits belonged to foliar application of plants by glycine betaine with concentration of 200 mM + 3% urea. Hydropriming significantly increased grain yield, harvest index, grain weight, and number of seeds per plant. Hydropriming also allowed the plant to initiate flowering and pod forming earlier. According to the results of this study, the use of hydropriming treatment and spraying of nitrogen and glycine betaine respectively would be recommended to improve the quality and quantity of rainfed chickpea in Kuhdasht, Lorestan province.