Abstract:The effects of vanadium，chromium，and melatonin on the germination of chickpea seeds were investigated.The seeds of kabuli chickpea were treated with exogenous vanadium，chromium，and melatonin，and the seed germination，content of vanadium，chromium，and isoflavone，and activities of antioxidant enzymes were determined.The results showed that the 25 mg/L vanadium treatment and 75 mg/L chromium treatment had the highest isoflavone content in chickpea sprouts.Melatonin significantly alleviated the effects of vanadium and chromium treatments on the seed germination of chickpea，promoted the growth of chickpea，and significantly reduced the content of vanadium and chromium in chickpea sprouts.The addition of exogenous melatonin significantly increased the isoflavone content in the chickpea sprouts of 2 days and 4 days by 54% and 14%，respectively，compared with vanadium treatment alone，and by 15% and 24%，respectively，compared with chromium treatment alone.Moreover，exogenous melatonin increased the activities of chickpea sporouts antioxidant enzymes and decreased the content of malondialdehyde （MDA）.