Response of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) to irrigation under varying water table conditions and crop coefficients through non-weighing lysimeters filled with silty clay loam soil
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Date
2018-06
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
Lysimeter experiment was conducted at N.E. Borlaug Crop Research Center of G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar (Latitude 290N, Longitude 79030’ E and Altitude 243.84 m above MSL) during rabi season of 2016-17 to study the response of chickpea cv. Pant Gram-3 under four irrigation schedules including Irrigation at 30% depletion of available soil moisture (ASM) (I1), Irrigation at 40% depletion of ASM (I2), Irrigation at 50% depletion of ASM (I3) and irrigation at growth stages (I4) and three water table depths (30±1.5, 60±1.5 and 90±1.5 cm). Irrigation was given using sprinkler method. The experiment was conducted using split plot design with three replications in lysimeters. The analyzed data of experiments have shown that in chickpea maximum plant height (60.21 cm), number of branches per plant (23.60), and number of root nodules per plant (28.19) were obtained in lysimeters associated with 30±1.5 cm water table depth. However, Maximum number of days taken to 50 % flowering (79) and physiological maturity (145) were also observed under lysimeters associated with 30±1.5 cm water table depth. Chickpea receiving irrigation at 30 % depletion of ASM (I1) gave maximum plant height (58.26 cm), number of branches per plant (23.26), and number of root nodules per plant (25.93). However, days taken to 50 % flowering and physiological maturity were also maximum (76.89 and 142, respectively) at 30 % depletion of ASM irrigation treatment. Numbers of pods plant-1, grain pod-1 and 100-grain weight (g) were more under 60±1.5 cm water depth with irrigation scheduled at 40 % depletion of ASM (I2). Grain yield (kg ha-1), straw yield (kg ha-1), and harvest index were high in irrigation treatment in which irrigations were scheduled based on 40 % depletion of ASM (I2). The maximum grain yield of chickpea (2572.00 Kg ha-1) was obtained under irrigation scheduled at 40 % depletion of ASM (I2) in lysimeters associated with 60±1.5 cm water depth (2740.93 Kg ha-1). Maximum water use efficiency (WUE) in lysimeters (5.59 kg ha-1mm-1) was observed when irrigations were given at 50 % depletion of ASM (I2) under 90±1.5 cm water table conditions. Results also showed that remarkably higher values of grain yield and yield attributes were obtained, when crop was irrigated at 40 % depletion of ASM (I2). Total water use varied from 411.91 to 444.28 mm among various irrigation treatments and water table depths. Total water use was more under 30±1.5 cm water table depth compared with 60±1.5 cm and 90±1.5 cm water table depths. Total seasonal water use increased with successive increase in moisture supply through irrigation or rainfall. With increase in number of irrigation, ET and seasonal water use increased. Crop coefficient as calculated from potential evapotranspiration and actual evapotranspiration for chickpea crop varied from 0.60 at one week after sowing to 1.67 at flowering stage and then declined to 1.13 with an average value of 1.03 during the crop season. From this study it is concluded that among different irrigation schedules and water table depths, maximum grain yield of chickpea was obtained under I2 treatment where irrigations were given based on 40 % depletion of available soil moisture (ASM) in lysimeters associated with 60±1.5 cm water table and minimum grain yield of was obtained in I1 treatment where irrigations were given based on 30 % depletion of ASM. In general grain yield was more under 60±1.5 cm water table depths and lowest under 30±1.5 cm water table depths. It is also clear from these results that water table contribution and total water use decreased with increase in water table depth. Among irrigation schedules, I2 (40 % depletion of ASM) was found to be best under all three water table depths. From crop coefficients for chickpea thus obtained from this study, the crop water requirement for chickpea can be determined easily if weather data of that location are available.