Effect of water soluble fertilizer on growth, yield and yield attributes of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Introduction

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an essential annual pulse crop that belongs to the genus: Cicer, Family Leguminosae or Fabaceae and is also recognized as "Bengal gram". Chickpea is classified into desi (chromosome number 2n = 14, 16) and kabuli chickpea (chromosome number 2n = 16). Chickpea are a vital food because of their high nutritional content, especially in regions of the world that are vulnerable to famine. Chickpea is mainly consumed in the form of processed whole seed and dal however used for preparing a variety of sweets, condiments and snacks, which are very beneficial for stomach ailments and blood purification. Chickpea is grown in India on 9.59 million ha and produces of 11.04 million tons with national average productivity of 1151 kg/ha during 2023-24. In Gujarat, during the year 2023-24, it was cultivated in an area of 0.62 million ha with production of 1.07 million tons of grains with the average productivity of 1714 kg/ha (Anon., 2024) [2] . Foliar feeding is the most effective and economic way to improve plant nutrient efficiency (Dixit and Elamathi, 2007) [4] . Application of nutrient through foliar spray at appropriate stages of crop growth becomes important for their utilization and better performance of the crop (Anandhakrishnaveni et al., 2004) [1] . Nitrogen and Phosphorous were applied through soil but nowadays these fertilizers were applied through water soluble fertilizer as foliar spray to avoid losses and increase efficiency of fertilizers. In recent years, speciality fertilizers had been introduced exclusively for foliar feeding and fertilization which serve better for foliar application and may contain different ratios of N, P and K with or without other nutrients with high solubility and so amenable for foliar nutrition (Shruthi and Vishwanath, 2018) [7] . Water soluble fertilizers are having specific characteristics viz., 100% water soluble, safe and effective, provide entire spectrum of nutrients needed for a wide variety of plants, source for immediate availability, formulated to be compatible with most common pesticides and fungicides and uniform in analysis. Research on the Effect of water soluble fertilizer on growth, yield and yield attributes of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) has practical utility in terms of optimizing agricultural practices for increased crop productivity, resource use efficiency and environmental sustainability.

Materials and Methods

The experimental soil was clayey in texture and moderately alkaline in reaction with pH 8.1 and EC 0.46 dS m -1 . The soil was medium in available nitrogen (323 kg ha -1 ), medium in available phosphorus (53.86 kg ha -1 ), high in available potassium (304.5 kg ha -1 ) and medium in available sulphur (19.62 ppm). There were 11 treatments of T 1 -Absolute control (No fertilizer), T 2 -only RDF(20-40-00 N-P 2 O 5 -K 2 O kg ha -1 ), T 3 -RDF + 2% spray of 12-61-00 (20 DAS), T 4 -RDF + 2% spray of 00-52-34 (40 DAS), T 5 -RDF + 1% spray of 12-61-00 (20 DAS) + 1% spray of 00-52-34 (40 DAS), T 6 -75% RDF + 2% spray of 12-61-00 (20 DAS), T 7 -75% RDF + 2% spray of 00-52-34 (40 DAS), T 8 -75% RDF + 1% spray of 12-61-00 (20 DAS) + 1% spray of 00-52-34 (40 DAS), T 9 -50% RDF + 2% spray of 12-61-00 (20 DAS), T 10 -50% RDF + 2% spray of 00-52-34 (40 DAS), T 11 -50% RDF + 1% spray of 12-61-00 (20 DAS) + 1% spray of 00-52-34 (40 DAS) replicated thrice in CRD. In this study, plant height, number of branches per plant, number of pods per plant, seed yield and straw yield were recorded at harvest and number of nodules per plant at 45 DAS.

Results and Discussion

Effect on growth parameters Plant height and no. of branches per plant is typical characters of crop which has erect growth habit. Plant height and no. of branches were significantly influenced by WSF as foliar spray. The data presented in (Table 1) showed that different treatments significantly influenced growth parameter at harvest. Significantly higher plant height (42.43) was observed by T 5 (RDF + 1% spray of 12-61-00 at 20 DAS + 1% spray of 00-52-34 at 40 DAS) which was found at par with treatments T 4 (RDF + 2% spray of 00-52-34 at 40 DAS), T 3 (RDF + 2% spray of 12-61-00 at 20 DAS) and T 8 (75% RDF + 1% spray of 12-61-00 at 20 DAS + 1% spray of 00-52-34 at 40 DAS). Significantly lower value observed in T 1 (37.03), which might be due to unavailability of nutrients which might lower the growth of plant and significantly higher number of branches per plant (6.53) was recorded with treatment T 5 (RDF + 1% spray of 12-61-00 at 20 DAS + 1% spray of 00-52-34 at 40 DAS) which was found at par with treatments T 4 (RDF + 2% spray of 00-52-34 at 40 DAS), T 7 (75% RDF + 2% spray of 00-52-34 at 40 DAS) and T 3 (RDF + 2% spray of 12-61-00 at 20 DAS). While the treatment T 1 recorded significantly lowest value (4.57). These results are in confirmatory with the findings of Singh et al. (2021) [8] found that foliar application of 75% RDF + foliar application of 2% DAP + 2% Urea + 2% WSF at 60 and 80 DAS recorded significantly higher plant height (60.28 cm) in chickpea over the control. Takankhar et al. (2017) [9] found that the foliar application of RDF + 19-19-19 @ 1.0% at vegetative stage, RDF + 00-52-34 @ 1.0% at flowering stage and RDF + 13-00-45 @ 1.0% at grain filling stage recorded significantly the highest number of branches plant -1 over the control in chickpea. The data presented in (Table 1) showed that different treatments significantly influenced number of nodules plant - 1 . Significantly the highest number of nodules plant -1 (52.67) was noted at T 5 (RDF + 1% spray of 12-61-00 at 20 DAS + 1% spray of 00-52-34 at 40 DAS) at 45 DAS over the other treatments. It was remained at par with treatment T 3 (RDF + 2% spray of 12-61-00 at 20 DAS). The lowest value of number of nodules plant -1 (24.33) observed under treatment (T 1 ). These findings are in close agreement with the results obtained by Bhavya et al. (2020) [3] found that foliar application of monopotassium phosphate and 19-19-19 each @ 1% at 30 and 45 DAS along with package of practice (RDF of 13-25-25 N, P 2 O 5 and K 2 O kg ha -1 ) shows the increase in number of nodules (36.92) at 45 DAS maximum in root nodulation and higher over its control in green gram.

Effect on yield attributes

Application of WSF significantly influenced the yield attributes like number of pods per plant (Table 2). The highest number of pods per plant (27.17) was noted at T 5 (RDF + 1% spray of 12-61-00 at 20 DAS + 1% spray of 00-52-34 at 40 DAS). It was remained at par with treatments T 4 (RDF + 2% spray of 00-52-34 at 40 DAS). While the lowest number of pods plant -1 (17.80) was found in the treatment (T 1 ). Similar results observed by Yadav et al. (2023) [10] found that the foliar application of NPK (19:19:19) @ 0.5% at preflowering and pod-initiation stage recorded higher number of pods plant -1 (63.43) over all other treatments in field pea. The improvement in number of pods plant -1 was due to additive effect of macro nutrients with better translocation of nutrients.

Effect on seed and straw yield

Chickpea seed and straw yield were significantly influenced due to different treatments tried in the experiment. Significantly higher seed yield (9.25 g plant -1 ) and straw yield (9.89 g plant -1 ) were obtained in treatment T 5 (RDF + 1% spray of 12-61-00 at 20 DAS + 1% spray of 00-52-34 at 40 DAS). Whereas, it was remained statistically at par with T 4 (RDF + 2% spray of 00-52-34 at 40 DAS) and T 3 (RDF + 2% spray of 12-61-00 at 20 DAS) in respect to both. However, significantly lowest seed yield (6.50 g plant -1 ) and straw yield (6.36 g plant -1 ) were observed in treatment T 1 . Similar results observed by Sakthi et al. (2020) [6] found that seed yield in black gram was significantly impacted due to application of RDF + Foliar spray of 1% 19:19:19 on 15 DAS + Foliar spray of 1% 12:61:00 on 30 DAS + Foliar spray of 1% 13:00:45 on 45 DAS recorded the maximum values for yield-attributing characters that is seed yield (1097.54 kg ha -1 ) over control. The similar results were quoted by Kumari et al. (2019) [5] found that straw production ranged from 1367 to 2012 kg ha -1 . Green gram crops fertilized with RDF (20:40:20:20 N:P 2 O 5 :K 2 O:S kg ha -1 ) and sprayed with N:P:K (19:19:19) @ 2% produced the highest straw yield (2012 kg ha -1 ) followed by RDF + N:P:K (19:19:19) @ 1% (1367 kg ha -1 ) and this is significantly superior over control in green gram.

Conclusion

On the basis of one-year experimental data, it can be concluded that the soil application of recommended dose of fertilizer 20-40-00 N-P 2 O 5 -K 2 O kg ha -1 along with foliar application of 1% spray of 12-61-00 at 20 DAS + 1% spray of 00-52-34 at 40 DAS exhibited its superiority in respect to parameters like, growth, yield and yield attributes on medium black calcareous soil of South Saurashtra Agro-Climatic Zone. Overall, the application of water soluble fertilizers play effective role in improving yield of chickpea.

References

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