Performance of chickpea varieties on growth and yield through water absorbents under late sown condition

This study was carried out in the winter of 2020-21 at College Research Farm Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda UP, India. Experiment was conducted in split plot design with two factor-treatments and three replications with a holistic aim to search out the best variety and water absorbent that enhance the crop yield and mitigate the moisture deficit stress. The treatments consisted of main plot: three water absorbents viz., Hydrogel @ 5.0 kg ha⁻¹, two foliar application of Salicylic acid @ 150 ppm, Hydrogel @ 5.0 kg ha⁻¹ followed by two foliar application of Salicylic acid @ 150 ppm and sub-plot: five varieties viz., JG-14, JG-16, JG-18, JG-36 and RVG-202. The conducted field study during rabi 2020-21 reveals that Chickpea variety “JG- 18” when sown on November 9^th at a spacing of 30×10 cm² apart and fertilized at 25:60:30 kg of N:P:K ha⁻¹ under rainfed late sown condition was performed significantly superior over other varieties irrespective of water-absorbents applied. The mixed application of water- absorbents as basal (hydrogel @ 5 kg ha⁻¹) and foliar (salicylic acid @ 150 ppm ha⁻¹ twice at flower initiation and pod formation) proved remarkable in terms of growth that maximized yield. Among the treatment combination studies, the RVG-202 with the basal application of hydrogel @ 5 kg ha⁻¹ and two foliar sprays of Salicylic acid @ 150 ppm at flowering initiation and pod formation significantly produced more number of root nodules at 45 and 60 DAS, took more number of days to mature and out-yielded the crop productivity.