Mitigating Effect of Seed Priming on Salt-Associated Alterations in Morphological Traits, Inorganic Ions, Yield and Yield Components of Chickpea (Cultivar Arman)

In order to unravel the potential mitigating effects of seed priming on salt-stressed chickpea (Cicer arietinum), a 4-replicate factorial out-door completely random design pot experiment was conducted on Arman cultivar of chickpea at the research field of the Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan (Latitude of 32° 38' North, Longitude of 51° 39' East, and an Altitude of 1620 m above sea level), Iran. Irrigation water salinity at four levels (0, 25, 50, and 75 mM NaCl) and seed priming at four levels, including control (non-priming), priming with mannitol (5%), NaCl (0.5%) and KCl (0.5%) were tested. Na+ and K+ concentrations and Na+/K+ were increased, but Ca+2 concentration, days to physiological maturity, seed yield, fertile pods/plant, seeds/pod, above-ground dry mass, and harvest index were decreased with aggravation of salinity. Chickpea seed priming by NaCl and KCl led to increase in yield components and hence seed yield of the salt-stricken plants, compared to non-primed and mannitol-primed plants due, seemingly, to decrease in tissue Na+ concentration. Albeit, priming-associated modifications in Na+ and Ca+2 concentrations, fertile pods/plant, seeds/pod, seed yield, and harvest index varied with the level of salinity. In contrary to the non-primed chickpea, plants receiving priming were able to produce fertile pods, due perhaps to the mitigative effects of the priming on salt-stricken plants. All results, taken together, confirm that the salt-sensitive legume chickpea may be harmed by 50 mM salinity of irrigation water but seed priming by NaCl and KCl may suppress the harmful effects.