Effect of Seed Soaking Durations and NPK Levels on Germination and Growth Dynamic of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Under Dryland Conditions

Author(s) : Asmat Ullah Khan, Abdul Rehman , Anum Nawaz, Haseeb Ahmad Fiaz

Digital object identifier:

https://doi.org/10.52587/JAF060203

Abstract:

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a vital legume crop regarding its high protein content and adaptability to semi-arid conditions, which make it a stable in diverse agricultural systems. Current experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of water soaking durations and NPK levels on the growth of chickpea under semi-arid conditions of Thal-Khushab, Punjab. The experiment was conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 4 replications and 20 treatments consisting of all possible combinations of 5 water soaking durations (W0=no water soaking, W1=soaking for 30 mints, W2= soaking for 60 mints, W3= soaking for 90 mints, W4=soaking for 120 mints) and 4 fertilizer levels (NPK) (F0=no NPK, F1=20:40:20 kg ha-1, F2= 25:50:25 kg ha-1, F3=30:60:30 kg ha-1). Data of growth parameters was recorded and analyzed using ANOVA, LSD test which showed a significant effect of the treatments. Among the growth parameters, the minimum emergence time was recorded under W2F2 (5.96 days), maximum plant stand count (100m-2) was recorded with W2F1, maximum Primary branch number (8.37 per plant) under W2F2, maximum plant height (120.59 cm) with W1F3, maximum Biomass Yield (kg ha-1) with W0F3 and maximum harvest index (6.3) was recorded with treatment W4F2. Correlation test was also conducted, which showed mixed response including positive, negative and no association among the different parameters.