Effects of seed osmopriming, foliar spraying of zinc and iron on qualitative and quantitative characteristics of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.)

Plant access to micronutrients helps to plant growth and the human need for these elements by eating vegetative food. In order to investigate the effects of foliar spraying of zinc sulfate (0, 2 and 4 g.l-1 of zinc sulfate), iron sulfate (0, 3 and 6 g.l-1 of iron sulfate) and seed osmopriming (control and polyethylene glycol 6000 (-2 bar)) an experiment was carried out in factorial based on a randomized complete block design with three replications at the research farm of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan (spring, 2017). The results showed that seed priming had a negative effect on most traits including seedling emergence percentage, seedling emergence rate (SER) and mean emergence time (MET). It was also observed that the highest grain yield, protein yield, and harvest index were obtained from triple interactions effects of non-priming × non-application of zinc sulfate × application of iron sulfate (3 g.l-1), no priming × non-application of zinc sulfate × non-application of iron sulfate, non-priming × non-application of zinc sulfate × application of iron sulfate (6 g.l-1) respectively. The general results showed that the application of iron and zinc in low concentrations can be somewhat improved bean plant growth traits. But seed priming had little effect on the growth traits of this plant.