Evaluation of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars with different crop geometries amenable to mechanical harvesting

The present investigation on evaluation of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars suitable for mechanical harvesting under different plant geometries was conducted during rabi 2018-19 at the Research Farm of R.A.K. College of Agriculture Sehore (M.P.) under all India Co-ordinated Research Project on Chickpea. To compare the production potential and suitability of cultivars for mechanical harvesting, six chickpea cultivars (JG 16, NbeG 47, BG 30- 62, Phule-G 08108, JG 2016-24 and GBM 2) were tried at two plant geometries 22.5×10 cm and 30×10 cm. The crop was shown on second week of and harvested on third week of March. Various growth and yield attributing characters were studied. Cultivar NbeG 47 and plant geometry 30×10 cm recorded significantly higher number of branches plant⁻¹, dry matter accumulation plant⁻¹, number of pods plant⁻¹ and grain yield plant⁻¹ while cultivar Nbeg 47 and plant geometry 22.5×10 cm recorded significantly higher values of plant height plant⁻¹ (cm), height of lowest pod from base (cm), grain yield kg ha⁻¹. The interaction effect of cultivar Nbeg 47 with plant geometry 30×10 cm found significant for dry matter accumulation plant⁻¹ (g), number of pods plant⁻¹ and grain yield plant⁻¹ (g) while the interaction effect of cultivar Nbeg 47 with plant geometry 22.5×10 cm found significant for plant height plant⁻¹ (cm), height of lowest pod from base (cm), grain yield (kg ha⁻¹).