Influence of seed priming and different irrigation levels on growth parameters of cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp]

A field study was conducted during summer season of 2012 and 2013 at Indian Institute of Horticultural Research in Bangalore, India to evaluate if priming could improve grain yield and water use efficiency of cowpea under limited water supply condition through drip system. Seed variety Arka Garima received the following priming treatments: they were soaked in GA₃, CaCl₂, ammonium molybdate, KBr, MgNO₃, ZnSO₄ solutions and water (hydropriming) for 24 hours at 15°C. Crop was subjected to three irrigation intervals in which the irrigation was applied at 0.9, 0.7, 0.5 Epan Replenishment of evaporation. Plant height, number of trifoliate leaves, total dry matter accumulation, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, 1000 seed weight and grain and biological yield were increased by different priming treatments compared to control. Seed priming increased the LAI, RGR, CGR and NAR at all irrigation regimes. Results suggest that the use of seed priming with either GA₃ (100ppm) or ammonium molybdate (10⁻³ M) for 24 hours at low concentration can be helpful in cowpea under both optimum as well as limited water conditions.