1Department of Agronomy, Sri Karan Narendra Agriculture University, Jobner, Rajasthan, India
2Department of Agronomy, Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agriculture University, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India
3Department of Agronomy and Agroforestry, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Odisha, India
*Corresponding author: lalichetti.sagar@cutm.ac.in (ORCID ID: 0000-0002-1991-2865)
Online Published on 28 July, 2023.
To study the energy use in chickpeas, a field trial was conducted at Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India, during rabi season 2020-21. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with 3 main plot treatments viz. conventional tillage (CT), zero tillage (ZT), zero tillage with black gram crop residue @ 5t/ha (ZT+R), and five subplot treatments viz., control or water spray, salicylic acid (50 ppm), Potassium nitrate (2%), Thiourea (1000 ppm), and Potassium + Multi-micronutrient complex (1%). Among different tillage treatments, ZT+R recorded the highest total energy output, net energy output, energy use efficiency, energy productivity, energy profitability, human energy profitability, energy output efficiency, and energy intensity in economic terms, followed by ZT and CT. Energy intensiveness and specific energy were reported highest under CT followed by ZT and ZT+R. Among bioregulators, foliar applications of KNO3 (2%) at flower initiation and pod filling recorded maximum in net energy output returns, human energy profitability, energy output efficiency, and energy intensity in economic terms as compared to other treatments under ZT+R. While energy use efficiency, energy productivity, energy profitability, and energy intensiveness were reported same levels in KNO3 (2%) and SA (50 ppm) under ZT+R although specific energy was comparatively higher under SA (50 ppm) application. Therefore, it was concluded that the adoption of foliar application of KNO3 (2%) at flower initiation and pod filling stages under zero tillage with the addition of black gram residues @ 5t/ha in rainfed chickpeas could be an energy efficient which may help in realizing higher net returns in Bundelkhand regions of Jhansi.
• Adoption of zero tillage with black gram crop residue @ 5t/ha (ZT+R) enhanced the chickpea’s total energy output, energy use efficiency, energy productivity and profitability.
• Application of KNO (2%) at flower initiation and pod filling recorded maximum in net energy output, energy output efficiency and human energy profitability.
Chickpea, Zero tillage, Rainfed, Bioregulators, Energy productivity
