Growth attributes of chickpea genotypes as influenced by different sowing windows

Introduction

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) popularly known as "Gram" or "Bengal gram" is most important and premier pulse crop of India. Numerous environmental and genetic variables interact during the growing period of chickpea in determining its productivity. Among the various agronomic practices, sowing time is single most important factor influencing the yield of chickpea. Optimum sowing time of chickpea may vary from one variety to another and also from one region to another due to variation of agroecological conditions. Different planting dates subject the vegetative and reproductive stages of the plant to various temperature, solar radiation and day length (Yadav et al., 1999) [8] . The modified environments resulting from different planting dates influence the crop growth and development by subjecting the different phenological stages viz., germination, vegetative and reproductive stages of the plant to various temperature, solar radiation and day length. Chickpea is usually sown between mid-October to mid-November. However, sowings are often delayed when grown in sequence with kharif crops.

Materials and Methods

The field experiment was conducted at the research farm of AICRP for Dryland Agriculture, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola (22 0 42' N latitude, 72 0 02' E longitude and at an altitude of 307.42 m above MSL) in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, during the Rabi season of 2023-24. The gross plot size was 3.6 m x 4.5 m and net plot size was 3.0 m x 4.1 m. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design with 9 treatment combinations comprising of 3 dates of sowing viz., D 1 -44 MW, D 2 -45 MW and D 3 -46 MW and three genotypes viz., V 1 -JG-14, V 2 -JAKI 9218 and V 3 -Akash, replicated three times. The respective dates of sowing during the year of investigation were 3 rd Nov, 10 th Nov, 17 th Nov, respectively. The soil of experimental field was vertisols, almost neutral in reaction (pH 7.68), low in organic carbon (0.53%), low in available nitrogen (175.5 kg ha -1 ), medium in available phosphorus (17.8 kg ha -1 ) and medium in available potassium (291.7 kg ha -1 ). Chickpea crop was sown at spacing of 30 cm x 10 cm. Recommended basal dose of nitrogen (20 kg N ha -1 ), phosphorus (40 kg P 2 O 5 ha -1 ) and potassium (40 K 2 O kg ha -1 ) was applied through urea, di-ammonium phosphate and muriate of potash. Meteorological data viz, rainfall, relative humidity, maximum and minimum temperature, bright sunshine hours and day length were recorded from Agrometeorological observatory of Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, Maharashtra, India. [4] and Neeraj et al. (2012) [6] . Genotypes showed significant difference in case of plant height. JG-14 produced the higher plant height (42.19 cm) which was at par with JAKI-9218 (38.15 cm). The least plant height (36.05 cm) was found in Akash and it was found comparable with JAKI-9218. Variation among the varieties in respect of plant height appears due to genotypic variation. Similar results were obtained by Nikam et al. (2014) [7] , and Alamin and Abdalla (2020) [1] . Interaction between sowing dates and genotypes was non-significant.

Number of branches plant -1

Among sowing windows, higher number of branches found in 44 MW (12.34) which was at par with crop sown in 45 MW (11.53) whereas the lower number of branches in 46 MW (11.08) and it was comparable with crop sown in 45 MW. Similar results were reported by Chaitanya and Chandrika (2006) [2] . Among the different genotypes, variations in number of branches were recorded at all the growth stages. The mean value of genotypes observed significantly higher to number of branches with JAKI-9218 (12.55) followed by Akash (11.61) and the least number of branches observed in JG-14 (10.78) and it was found at par with Akash. Interaction between sowing dates and genotypes was non-significant. [3] , Kiran and Chimmad (2015) [5] . Among genotypes, higher dry matter accumulation plant -1 (25.30 g) at harvest was recorded in JAKI-9218 which was significantly higher at all growth stages but was found at par with Akash (23.75 g). JG-14 recorded least dry matter accumulation plant -1 (21.97 g) and it was found comparable with Akash.

Conclusion

Sowing of chickpea at 44 MW found to be significantly superior for obtaining higher growth attributes of chickpea varieties among all the sowing dates. However, it was found comparable with sowing at 45 MW. Among the genotypes, JAKI-9218 being comparable with Akash recorded significantly higher growth attributes than JG-14.

References

1. Alamin AM, Abdalla AH. Yield, yield components for some chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes as affected by water stress and sowing date. SUST J Agric. Vet. Sci. 2020;21(1):57-74.
2. Chaitanya SK, Chandrika V. Performance of chickpea varieties under varied dates of sowing in Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh. Legume Res. 2006;29(2):137-139.
3. Husnain MS, Mahabub ST, Mazed HEMK, Habib ZFB, Pulok AI. Effect of sowing time on growth, yield and seed quality of chickpea (BARI chhola-6). Int J Multidiscip Res Dev. 2015;7(2):136-141.
4. Kabier K, Bari MN, Karim M, Khaliq Q, Ahmed J. Effect of sowing time and cultivars on the growth and yield of chickpea under rainfed condition. Bangladesh J Agric. Res. 2009;34(2):335-342.
5. Kiran BA, Chimmad VP. Effect of temperature regimes on phenological parameters, yield and yield components of chickpea. Karnataka J Agric Sci. 2015;28(2):168-171.
6. Neeraj K, Nandwal AS, Yadav R, Bhasker P, Kumar S, Devi S, et al. Assessment of chickpea genotypes for high temperature tolerance. Indian J Plant Physiol. 2012;17(34):225-232.
7. Nikam RP, Bhondave TS, Raundal PU. Effect of various sowing dates on growth and yield of chickpea. Bioinfolet. 2014;11(3A):09-14.
8. Yadav VS, Yadav SS, Singh DS, Panwar D. Morphophysiological basis of yield varieties in chickpea under late planting conditions. Ann. Agric. Res. 1999;20(2):227-230.