Planting high quality seeds with high germination percentage is important in agriculture, especially in mechanized and industrialized systems. So, this experiment was conducted in 2011 in Arak, Iran, to evaluate the effect of seed priming treatments on the seed quality of red bean. The experiment was conducted in split plot in the form of a randomized complete block design with three replications and two factors. The first factor was primary seed priming, in which seeds were or were not treated with water, for 14 hours. The second factor was complementary seed priming which was conducted after drying the seeds treated in the first step. In this step, water, 100 ppm KCl, 0.5% CaCl2.2H2O, 50 ppm KH2PO4 and 20 ppm GA3 were used to treat seeds for 14 hours. Results indicated that the primary seed priming had no significant effect on none of the measured traits. However, complementary seed priming significantly affected plant dry matter, grain yield, 100 grain weight and the number of pods. The interaction of two factors had only a significant effect on 100 grain weight. Mean comparison indicated that the highest plant dry matter (53.06 g) and the highest grain yield (5.98 t/ha) were both achieved when seeds were first treated with water (as the primary seed priming) and after drying were treated with GA3 (as the complementary seed priming). On the other hand, the lowest plant dry matter (23.30 g) and the lowest grain yield (3.17 t/ha) were also observed when seeds were first treated with water and after drying, were treated again with water.
