Effect of foliar application of nutrients on growth and yield of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Introduction

Chickpeas are grown in over 50 countries, spanning regions such as the Indian subcontinent, North Africa, the Middle East, Southern Europe, the Americas, and Australia (Jukanti et al., 2012) [7] . It is the premier pulse crop of Indian subcontinent and an important crop for vegetarian people as primary source of protein, it is third most important pulse crop grown in the world after dry beans and peas (Kaur et al., 2020, Sharma et al., 2025) [8,15] . It is mainly roasted, boiled, or fried and is used as the central ingredient in main dishes. The seeds can be eaten whole split and decorticated (dal) or ground as flour (basan), the shoots and green leaves are even cooked and eaten as green vegetables. Chickpeas are an excellent source of carbohydrates and protein, accounting for roughly 80% of their total dry weight (Chibbar et al., 2010) [4] . Chickpea contains 18-22% protein, 52-70% carbohydrate, 4-10% fat and sufficient quantity of minerals, calcium, phosphorus, iron and vitamins. Besides, it is also important for sustainable agriculture as it improves the physico-chemical and biological properties of the soil. Its deep roots also open the soil, which ensure better aeration and heavy leaf drop increases the organic matter in the soil. It can fix about 25-30 kg N ha -1 through symbiosis and hence minimize dependency on chemical fertilizers (Pujitha et al., 2022) [12] .

Materials and Methods

The present experiment was carried out at Agronomy Research Farm of Mewar University, Gangrar, Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. Geographically Chittorgarh is located at 24.88°N 74.63°E. It has an average elevation of 394 meter (1292 ft). Chittorgarh is located in the southern part of the state of Rajasthan, in the northwestern part of India. Net plot size 1.8 x 3= 5.4 m 2 and Spacing 30 x 10 cm with use of variety GNG-217.

Results and Discussion

Growth Attributes

The application of different irrigation levels in chickpea significantly influenced the growth characters at all growth stages Table 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. It was recorded that the highest plant height (12.54, 54.21 and 59.32 cm) Branches was found to be maximum (8.99) at flowering number of nodules was found to be maximum (11.28, 19.26 and 26.73), highest fresh weight of nodules (0.29 and 0.42g) maximum dry weight of nodules (0.038, and 0.068 g) were recorded significantly higher in T 9 1% KNO3+ Zinc 0.5% pre-flowering and pod formation stage The highest, plant height, number of branches found in gram crop might be due to addition of micro nutrient Zn and Boron in conjunction with foliar spray of all necessary macro and micro nutrients and their uptake by gram crop. It results in increased availability of all nutrients to plants and enhanced meristematic activity, cell division, enlargement and elongation of cells resulting in higher growth contributing characters. The results are in conformity with Rawat et al. (2021) [14] , Rathod et al. (2017) [13] , Das et al. (2017) [5] , Kumar et al. (2023) [9] , Muhammad (2023) [11] , Singh et al. (2024) [16] . The foliar supplementation of various nutrients which is essential to enhancing tryptophan production a precursor of auxin, a hormone responsible for stem elongation and growth (Nadergoli et al., 2011). Zinc also activates specific enzymes involved in cell division as well as elongation, Zinc plays a crucial role in the synthesis and metabolism of cellular components in both plants and animals, particularly influencing cell elongation, differentiation, and apical dominance all of which are directly related to shoot growth (Blesseena et al., 2019) [3] . It also contributes indirectly to improved carbohydrate metabolism and translocation, thereby promoting overall vegetative growth. Boron application might be supported cell elongation and differentiation, further contributing to increased shoot growth. Another factor contributing to this increase was the extra fertilizer input from foliar supplementation of various nutrients which increased the nutrients uptake in plant. It consequently contributed to the growth of the plant's height, number of branches, root length, quantity of nodules, their fresh and dry weights, and dry matter production. The Similar results were also published by, Kumar et al. (2023) [9] and Akshara et al. (2024) [1] .

Yield attributes and yield

The data presented in Table 3 to 4 revealed that yield attributes of chickpea viz., The maximum Number of pods (69.55 plant -1 ), maximum number of number of seeds (2.29 pos -1 ), maximum seed yield (1696.43 kg ha -1 ) and stover yield (3509.70 kg ha -1 ) under treatment T 9 1% KNO3+ Zinc 0.5% pre-flowering and pod formation stage), which was at par with T 6 and T 7 . In the present study, significant differences were observed in grain and straw yield of chickpea because of foliar spray of different nutrients. Among yield contributing characters, The highest grain yield, stover yield, yield increase over control is obtained due to the availability of both macro and micro nutrients is uniform throughout the vegetative growth stage of crop. Due to foliar application of nutrients 1% KNO3+ Zinc 0.5% pre-flowering and pod formation stage. Increase in yield was mainly due to the increased nutrient supply. It perhaps helped in quick absorption of nutrients at the time of reproductive stage where the nutrient demand was at the peak due to indeterminate growth habit of the crop. Hence, it reduced the flower drop and ultimately enhanced the pod setting and resulted in higher seed yield. As pod number is considered to be the major yield determinant in pulses, foliar application of 1% KNO3+ Zinc 0.5% was able to increase the pod number in this experiment. The increased grain yield in chickpea due to beneficial effect of nutrients applied at proper time and stage was also reported by Anju et al., (2017) [2] , Jadhav and Kulkarni (2016) [6] and Mudalagiriyappa et al., (2016) [10] where foliar application of nutrients at flowering and pod development stage might have been easily absorbed and better translocated in the plant and maintained constant requirement of nutrients at the reproductive stage of the crop. The increase in straw yield is directly related mainly to increase in the vegetative growth of the plant. It was mainly due to the maximum plant height. It might be due to continuous supply of nutrients as basal and as nutrient spray which in turn increased the leaf area and dry matter accumulation resulted in higher straw yield. This might be because macronutrients is responsible in influencing the yield attributing characters like pods per plant and which ultimately influenced the grain and straw yields.

Conclusion

In the light of results summarized above, it may be concluded that for higher growth and seed yield, Application of foliar nutrient 1% KNO3+ Zinc 0.5% pre-flowering and pod formation stage should preferred over other combination natural farming approaches. The observations are based on one season data, to get more precise information, it is suggested that the experiment. It can be concluded that we can suggest to farmer use of 1% KNO3+ Zinc 0.5% increasing yield of crops and improved soil nutrient status.

References

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