12. Nodulation, morphological and yielding components of chickpea as influenced by tillage practices under varying potassium levels
Main Article Content
Abstract
Field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of tillage practices and potassium levels on growth, yield and yield components of chickpea, at Agronomy Research Farm, The University of Agriculture Peshawar Pakistan, in winter 2015-16. The experimental results exhibited that among tillage practices deep tillage significantly affected weed density (438 m-2), weeds dry weight (6.4 g m-2), weeds fresh weight (13.5 g m-2), nodules weight (1.15 g plant-1), plant height (83.3 cm), number of branches plant-1 (11), days to maturity (196), grain yield (1447 kg ha-1), biological yield (4155 kg ha-1) and harvest index (37.5 %), however days to emergence, emergence m-2, days to 50 % flowering, number of nodules, number of pods plant-1, grains pod-1, pods m-2 were non-significantly affected by tillage practice. The minimum grain yield and other yield related characters were observed in shallow tillage practice. Potassium had significant impact on number of nodules (16.0 plant-1), nodules weight (1.10 g plant-1), plant height (81.3 cm), number of pods plant-1 (33.5), pods m-2 (837), days to maturity (196), 100 grain weight (25.3 g), grain yield (1483 kg ha-1), biological yield (4244 kg ha-1) and harvest index (37.6 %),whereas days to emergence, emergence m-2, weed density, weeds dry weight, weeds fresh weight, number of branches plant-1, days to 50 % flowering were not significantly affected. The interaction between tillage practices and potassium levels was significant for only 50 % flowering while non-significant for the rest of parameters. Thus it is concluded from the experiment that deep tillage performed better as compared with shallow and medium deep tillage practices in terms of yield and yield components. Potassium application at the rate of 60 kg ha-1 improved growth and productivity in Peshawar region.
Keywords: Chickpea; Grain yield; Nodules; Potassium; Yield