Effect of restricted soil moisture on yield and its attributes in chickpea

Two Chickpea (Cicer arietimm L) varieties, C 235 and BG 268 were raised under restricted and high Soil moisture on 4 sowing dates during the two seasons, 1987–88 and 1988–89. Variety C 235 gave 40% higher yield than BG 268 as it produced more pod number/unit area. Under restricted soil moisture grain weight/pod was 35% higher, which over compensated its lower pod number (15%) so that its grain yield was higher by 15–18% than crops raised under high soil moisture. Rate of change in yield with time showed that for every one day delay in sowing (1) grain yield/m² declined by 1 g, (2) pod number of BG 268 and C 235 declined by 5 and 7–10 pods/m² respectively.