Influence of Tillage Practices and Microbial Consortia on Growth and Yield Performance of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a nutritionally rich Rabi pulse crop that significantly enhances biological nitrogen fixation and soil health in rainfed agroecosystems. The combined use of tillage methods and microbial consortia can significantly improve crop growth and resource-use efficiency.

A field experiment was executed in the Rabi season of 2024-2025 at the Agricultural Research Farm of Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, India. The experiment was arranged in a split-plot design with three replications. Three types of tillage-zero tillage, minimum tillage and conventional tillage were used in the main plots and four types of microbial consortia treatments were used in the subplots: (i) seed treatment with microbial consortia @ 30 g kg^-1 seed, (ii) soil application of consortia @ 2.5 kg mixed with 50 kg FYM ha^-1, (iii) combination of seed treatment and soil application and (iv) no consortia (control). Pearson correlation analysis and correlogram visualization were used to evaluate relationships among growth and yield attributes.

Correlation analysis demonstrated a significant positive association between seed yield and plant dry weight (r = 0.997***), number of pods per plant (r = 0.997***) and seed index (r = 0.998***), underscoring their critical influence on chickpea productivity in rainfed environments. Yield attributes demonstrated robust positive interrelationships, indicating a coordinated contribution to yield formation. The correlogram showed clear clusters of biomass and yield components, with strong positive links between the most important growth and yield traits. Using integrated tillage management with microbial consortia application improved the relationship between growth and yield, which led to higher seed yield in chickpea. This study integrates tillage practices with microbial consortia and quantitatively assess their combined influence on growth-yield relationships in chickpea using correlation and correlogram analyses under rainfed semi-arid conditions.