Effect of sowing dates and different irrigation regimes on morphological characteristics and grain yield of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) (cultivar 3279 ILC)

Abstract

In order to study the effect of different sowing dates and different irrigation regimes on morphological characteristics and grain yield of chickpea (cultivar 3279 ILC) (Cicer arietinum L.), an experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research-Education Station of Shahid Rejaee, Neyshaboor during 2001-2002. Four irrigation regimes (without irrigation, one time irrigation (at early flowering), two times irrigation (at early flowering and 50% flowering) and control (irrigation every 10 days)) and Four sowing dates early planting (autumn, Entezari), and late planting (spring and delayed) were compared in a spilt plot layout based on randomized complete block design with four replications per treatment. The results showed that all chickpea plants with delayed sowing date on combination of without irrigation, one time irrigation (at early flowering) and two times irrigation (at early flowering and 50% flowering) were dead. By delaying sowing date, duration between the time of starting flowering and maturity became shorter. Plant height, distance of the first pod from earth surface, distance between nods, number of nods per plant, number of stems per plant, number of pods per plant, number of pods with one, two and with no seed per plant, number of seeds per plant, seed weight per plant, 100 seed weight and grain yield were increased when the number of irrigation increased. By increasing the growing season, plant height, distance of the first pod from earth surface, number of nods per plant, number of stems per plant, number of pods per plant, number of pods with two and without seeds per plant, number of seeds per plant and seed weight per plant were increased. The autumn sowing date had the highest and the spring date had the lowest grain yield. The highest plant height, number of nods per plant, number of stems per plant, number of pods per plant, number of pods with one and with no seed per plant, number of seeds per plant and grain yield were obtained at autumn sowing date with control treatment (every 10 days irrigation). Plants of spring sowing date with no irrigation treatment because of decreasing growth period and declining water availability had the lowest plant height, number of nods per plant, number of pods per plant, number of pods with one seeds per plant, seed weight per plant, 100 seed weight and grain yield. Key words: Chickpea, sowing date, irrigation regime, seed yield, yield components.