EFFECT OF PRIMING TREATMENTS ON SEED YIELD AND ITS ATTRIBUTING CHARACTERS OF KABULI CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM L.)

Chickpea is one of the most important pulse crops globally, renowned for its rich nutrient profile.Kabuli chickpea differs from desi one due to many reasons.Germination and yield of kabuli chickpea is low as compare to desi type.Seed priming is important technique to deal with all these problems.Seeds were primed with different chemicals before sowing.Experimental material was sown in Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD) with three replications with a spacing of 45 10 cm.The variety Phule G-16318 exhibited superior performance, recording a higher number of pods per plant (65.14) and seed yield per plant (26.23 g) compared to the varieties Virat and Kripa.However, Kripa demonstrated a higher seed index (50.95g), attributed to its bold seed type.Seed treatments, particularly with sodium nitroprusside (SNP) at 25 ppm combined with Vitavax at 0.25% (T3), followed by potassium nitrate (KNO3) at 100 ppm and Vitavax at 0.25% (T7), were effective in significantly increasing the number of pods per plant (63.28), seed index (46.22g), and seed yield per plant (27.85 g).Among the treatment interactions, Phule G-16318 primed with SNP at 25 ppm + Vitavax 0.25% (T3) followed by KNO3 at 100 ppm + Vitavax 0.25% (T7) produced the highest seed yield per plant (29.03 g), largely due to an increase in the number of pods per plant (18.83).These results highlight the potential of seed priming techniques to enhance chickpea productivity.