Response of Chickpea Varieties to Different Irrigation Regimes

Chickpea is an important pulse crop in Bangladesh. The study was conducted at BINA sub-station Magura, to evaluate the yield potential of new cultivars of chickpea under different irrigation regimes. The experimental design was RCBD (with split-plot) having irrigation treatments in the main plots and chickpea varieties in the sub-plots. The irrigation treatments comprised of: control (no irrigation) [T1], irrigation at vegetative stage (25-30 DAS) [T2], irrigation at flowering stage (45-50 DAS) [T3], and irrigation at vegetative stage (25-30 DAS) and flowering stage (45-50 DAS) [T4]. The varieties were: V1 = Binasola-5; V2 = Binasola-6 and V3 = Binasola-4. Irrigation water was applied up to field capacity as per treatment. The results revealed that irrigation treatments had detrimental effect on all yield attributes (plant height, seed per pod, branch per plant) and seed yield. The seed yield gradually reduced when irrigation was applied. The highest seed yield (1.87 t ha-1) was obtained from control treatment which received no irrigation.

The varieties had also significant effect on all yield attributes and seed yield. The cultivar binasola-5 produced the highest yield (1.20 t ha-1). The highest water use efficiency (263.01 kg ha-1 cm-1) was also found in control treatment (T1), which received no irrigation. From the results of the study, it is revealed that under the prevailing climatic and soil condition, the chickpea cultivars do not need any irrigation at Magura, rather it reduces yield.