Enhancing water use efficiency and production potential of chickpea and fieldpea through seed bed configurations and irrigation regimes in North Indian Plains

Chickpea and fieldpea are grown during fall in India under diverse productionsystems including both rainfed and irrigated. Moisture scarcity especially at terminal stages of these crops results in low productivity and less farm income despite the fact that these crops have unique adaptive mechanisms to moisture stress. Therefore, one or two life saving irrigations at the most critical stages is of immense relief for maintaining plant water status in addition to other in situ water saving measures such as land configuration and mulch. Thus, a field trial was carried out in these pulses to study the effect of seed bed configurations, mulch and irrigation regimes on seed yield and water use efficiency (WUE) under North Indian Plains during 2007–08 and 2009–10. The study revealed that pre-sowing irrigation followed by a post-sowing irrigation depending on critical stage of crop was optimum for realization of optimum yield and WUE. Irrigation combined with straw mulch@ 6 t/ha was also useful in getting maximum seed yield. Planting on a raised bed was superior to flat planting. Subsequent confirmatory field trial also revealed the yield advantage of furrow irrigated raised beds (FIRB) planting at 60 cm with two rows of fieldpea on beds over both flat and FIRB at 90 cm with three rows offieldpea on beds. Water use efficiency was however, improved with 90 cm wide FIRBs in chickpea in comparison to 60 cm wide FIRBs in field pea. Both chickpea and fieldpea responded to single irrigation at branching only.