Effect of drip irrigation levels and crop geometry on water use, water use efficiency and yield of chickpea (Cicer arietinum)

A field experiment was conducted during Rabi seasons of 2019-20 and 2020-21 at SK Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner to study the effect of drip irrigation levels and drip line spacing on yield, water use and water use efficiency of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). The treatments consisted of three drip irrigation schedules viz. 40, 60 and 80% ET_c, three crop geometry viz. normal sowing (30 cm × 10 cm) in 90 cm drip line spacing, paired row sowing (30 cm × 60 cm) in 120 cm drip line spacing and normal sowing (30 cm × 10 cm) in 120 cm drip line spacing and control with surface irrigation in normal sowing (30 cm × 10 cm). The experiment was conducted in randomized block design and replicated thrice. The study indicated that there was increase in yield attributes, seed and biological yield with increase in irrigation levels from 40% to 80% ET_c. However, 60% and 80% ET_c gave at par yield and both irrigation levels were superior to surface irrigation. The study further revealed that highest water use efficiency (22.18 kg ha^-1 mm^-1) was recorded with drip irrigated crop as compared to surface irrigated crop (8.69 kg ha^-1 mm^-1). Crop geometry also significantly influenced the seed yield, biological yield and water use efficiency. Highest seed yield (27.20 q ha^-1), biological yield (82.28 q ha^-1) and water use efficiency (22.48 kg ha^-1 mm^-1 ) was recorded with normal sown crop at 90 cm drip line spacing which was at par with paired row sown crop at 120 cm drip line spacing.