Effect of integrated nutrients management and drought mitigating strategies on yield, water use efficiency and soil fertility of rainfed chickpea (Cicer arietinum)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research Farm, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh (India) on sandy clay loam soil during winter season of 2012-13 and 2013-14 to find out the effect of integrated nutrients and drought mitigating strategies on productivity, water use efficiency and soil health of rainfed chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). The result showed that the application of 100% RDF + 2% urea spray proved significantly superior to the 100% RDF+ 25% N (VC), 100% RDF + 5 kg Zn/ha and 100% RDF in terms of the number of pods/plant (51.41), seed pod (1.18), 100-seed weight (26.81 g), seed yield (1 200 kg/ha) and water use efficiency (13.36 kg/ha/mm) of chickpea and available nutrients in soils (187.06 kg/ha N, 22.66 kg/ha P2O5, 203.99 kg/ha K2O, 18.20 kg/ha S and 0.66 mg/kg Zn soil) during both the years. Similarly, foliar spray of 2% KCl + 0.4% sodium selenite recorded maximum values of number of pods/plant (55.06), seeds/pod (1.14), 100-seed weight (26.16 g) and finally seed yield (1 159 kg/ha) of chickpea which was found comparable to 2% KCl during both the years. Maximum water use efficiency (12.93 kg/ha mm) and available soil nutrients (188.57 kg/ha N, 22.15 kg/ha P2O5, 204.03 kg/ha K2O, 17.83 kg/ha S and 0.66 mg/kg Zn soil) were recorded highest under 2% KCl + 0.4% sodium selenite during both the years. © 2017, Indian Council of Agricultural Research. All rights reserved.