Journal of Food Legumes
Year : 2009, Volume : 22, Issue : 1
First page : ( 11) Last page : ( 17)
Print ISSN : 0970-6380.

Sustaining chickpea production under varying tillage systems and fertility levels in Vertisols of Malwa Plateau

Billore S.D., Joshi O.P., Vyas A.K., Ramesh A.

Directorate of Soybean Research, Indore, 452017, Madhya Pradesh, India; E-mail: billsd@rediffmail.com.

Abstract

A field experiment on chickpea after soybean under varied nutrient management situations and tillage systems was conducted during 2001–02 to 2004–05 in Vertisols at Directorate of Soybean Research, Indore to assess the stability and sustainability of chickpea production. Pooled results revealed that the chickpea yield remained unaffected due to tillage systems which indicated that the degree of tillage could be reduced without compromising the yield of chickpea, and was further authenticated by more or less identical values of sustainability yield index and stability. The application of nutrients either in kharif (organic manure) or in rabi seasons (chemical fertilizer) increased the yield of chickpea to the tune of 19.2% (9 to 26%) over control. The residual effect of these organic sources could enhance the chickpea yield to the extent of 11.2% over control. This residual effect was further pronounced when coupled with 50% RDF (around 20.65%) or 100% RDF (25.2%). Sustainability yield index showed that the application of nutrients through either of the sources or their integration is capable of producing minimum guaranteed yield in the range of 24 to 26% of the potential chickpea yield. The residual effect of farmyard manure either alone or with integration ensured better performance of chickpea under unfavorable conditions and was also found stable. The relative stability showed that most of the fertility treatments behaved identically.

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Key words

Chickpea, Nutrient management, Relative stability, Sustainable yield index, Tillage.

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