Performance of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) to bio-fertilizer and nitrogen application in arid condition

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted during 2013–2014 at Tashkent, Uzbekistan to evaluate the performance of chickpea variety “Jakhongir” with the variable proportion of nitrogen (N) and bio-fertilizer inoculation in the moderate saline (5.6 ± 0.6 dSm⁻¹) soil condition. The studied treatments were No control (non-fertilized), N1 mineral-N (50 kg N ha⁻¹), N2, mineral-N (75 kg N ha⁻¹), N3, mineral-N (100 kg N ha⁻¹) equivalent 0%, 50%, 75%, and 100% from recommended rate for chickpea, Rhizobium inoculation (Bio) + No control, Rhizobium inoculation (Bio) + N1, Rhizobium inoculation (Bio) + N2, and Rhizobium inoculation (Bio) + N3. Seed inoculation with Rhizobium was significantly superior over no inoculation treatments at all rate of N fertilization. The middle rate of N fertilization 75 kg N ha⁻¹ combined with biofertilizer inoculation had of superior effect on chickpea, producing 73.2% more yield (1.68 Mg ha⁻¹), oil, protein, and sugar content performed 16.4%; 15.0%, and 17.9% higher value, respectively, in comparison to control.

Keywords:

• arid region
• biofertilizer
• chemical fertilizer
• chickpea
• nutrient use efficiency
• saline soil
• yield

Additional information

Funding

This research was financially supported by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.