The effectiveness of zinc (Zn), boron (B) and iron (Fe) is reduced in semi-arid regions, which can lead to a deficiency of these nutrients and inhibit chickpea productivity. In this work, three field experiments were executed over two years where soil and foliar applications of Zn, B and Fe were carried out, including controls (Zn0, B0 and F0), soil application at 4.125 kg/ ha (Zn-1, B1 and F1) and 8.25 kg/ha (Zn-2, B2 and F2) and foliar spay at 0.3% at flowering initiating (Zn-3, B3 and F3) and one week after flowering initiation (Zn-4, B4 and F4, respectively). The results indicate that the deficiency of these nutrients inhibited chickpea growth and yield, leading to a reduction in the pigment contents. Nonetheless, soil and foliar application of Zn, B and Fe significantly improved growth, chlorophyll contents and yield, showing a dose-dependent effect. The best results were recorded for Zn-3, B2 and F2 treatments which significantly (P<0.05) increased shoot length (20.96-85.19%), root length (42.85-93.65%), shoot fresh (23-76%) and root fresh weight (45-90.32%), compared with the control treatment. Chlorophyll parameters, including chlorophyll a and b contents, showed similar trends. Zn-3, B2 and F2 treatments significantly increased biological and grain yields, which were associated with higher values of the number of pods per plant and the number of seeds per pod. In a nutshell, we suggest that Zn foliar application at 0.3% at flowering initiation and soil application of B and Fe at 25 kg/ha are beneficial for improving the growth, pigment content and overall productivity of chickpea.