Optimization of Irrigation and Nitrogen Levels in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) under Loamy Sand Soil of North Gujarat

Shrinking of water resources and poor fertility status of soil in semi-arid region, call for diversification from wheat to low inputs demanding crop chickpea in North Gujarat. A field experiment was conducted during the rabi seasons of 2021-22 at Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat to optimize irrigation and nitrogen fertilizer for chickpea under loamy sand soil. All growth traits, yield components and seed and straw yield of chickpea increased significantly with at each higher level of irrigation scheduling up to 0.8 IW/CPE ratio with water application of 450 mm along with 100% RDN. The highest field water use efficiency of chickpea with 0.6 IW/CPE ratio. Seed yield with applied water and field water use efficiency followed quadratic function with regression coefficient (R²) of 0.99.The predicted maximum seed yield of chickpea was 2306 and 2217 kg/ha with optimum irrigation and nitrogen level of 549.6 mm and 24.03 kg N/ha beyond which yield seed yield shows decreased in trends.