Effect of supplemental irrigation on yield and its components of somechickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)‎ genotypes

Abstract EN

A field experiment was conducted at field crops department, Abu Jarash farm, faculty of agriculture, Damascus university (Syria), during the winter seasons of the years 2011/ 2012 and 2012/ 2013, to study the effect of three supplemental irrigation treatments (rainfed cultivation, one irrigation during flowering stage and two irrigations during flowering and seed filling stages) on the yield and its components of six chickpea genotypes (Fouei, Ghab1, Ghab2, Ghab3, Ghab4, and Ghab5).

The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications.

The statistical analysis results showed significant differences among chickpea genotypes and between supplemental irrigation treatments in terms of plant height, relative water content, number of effective pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, hundred seed weight, seed yield, biological yield and harvest index.

The genotype Ghab5 surpassed over other genotypes in relative water content (67.53%), number of effective pods per plant (19.20), number of seeds per pod (1.32), hundred seed weight (30.66 g), seed yield (2.00 t.ha-1), biological yield (5.93 t.ha-1) and harvest index (32.48%), which reflected the importance of genotype efficiency in producing a large number of effective pods and seeds per pod as a main factor in formation the yield of seeds, as the number of effective pods and seeds per plant are considered the most important components determining seed yield in the chickpea crop.

The supplemental irrigation treatment with two irrigations during flowering and seed filling stages recorded the highest plant height (44.22 cm) relative water content (73.59 %), number of effective pods per plant (24.52), number of seeds per pod (1.31), hundred seed weight (29.18 g), seed yield (2.54 t.ha-1), biological yield (7.42 t.ha-1) and harvest index (34.11 %) as compared to other treatments, the fact that reflected the importance of providing balanced water especially during critical stages of plant life to get higher yield of seeds.