Effect of phosphorus and farm yard manure on agronomic traits of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the major legume crops grown in Pakistan having a considerable importance as a food, feed and fodder but due to imbalanced use of fertilizers its production is low. To find the optimum level of Phosphorus and FYM for chickpea and study their effect on agronomic characteristics an experiment was carried out at the Agricultural Research Farm of NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar during winter season of 2002-03. The experiment was laid out in RCBD with split plot arrangement having four replications. Four Farm Yard Manure (FYM) levels (0, 5, 10, 15 t per ha) were applied to main plots and four phosphorus levels (0, 30, 60, 90 kg P2O5 per ha) were evaluated in sub-plots of area 12m2. The experimental results showed that as compared to other P treatments 60 kg P2O5 per ha significantly improved agronomic traits. Maximum plant height (94.7 cm), number of pods per plant (81.9), thousand grain weight (241.5 g), number of nodules per plant (87), above ground biomass yield (7793 kg per ha), straw yield (3475 kg per ha) and grain yield (1993 kg per ha) were recorded for 60 kg P2O5 per ha. Similarly, the results also showed that 15 t FYM per ha in comparison to other FYM treatments did not significantly increase all the parameters except number of pods per plant, biomass yield, and straw yield. Maximum number of pods per plant (76.3), biomass yield (7522 kg per ha), and straw yield (3180 kg per ha) were recorded for 15 t FYM per ha. The interaction of FYM and phosphorus was non-significant for all the parameters. These results suggested that the application of FYM to chickpea did not affect its yield significantly while phosphorus fertilizer at the rate of 60 kg per ha proved effective for optimum production.