No abstract

The investigation aimed to study the effect of integrated nutrient management and drought mitigating practices on rainfed chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) on sandy clay loam soil at Varanasi in winters of 2012-13 and 2013-14. The treatment consisted of combinations of four integrated nutrients levels in main plot and five drought mitigating practices including control in sub-plot. The growth and yield were significantly influenced by different integrated nutrients during both the years. Application of 100% RDF + 2% urea spray proved significantly superior to the 100% RDF + 25% N (VC), 100% RDF + 5 kg Zn/ha and 100% RDF in terms of growth and yield attributes, net returns and B:C ratio. Foliar spray of 2% KCl + 0.4% sodium selenite recorded maximum values of growth and yield of chickpea which was found comparable with 2% KCl during both the years. The maximum net return (Rupees 23 880) and B:C ratio (1.97) was recorded under 2% KCl during both the years. It is concluded that significant improvement in growth characters, yield attributes, yields and nutrients uptake were recorded with the application of 100% RDF + 2% urea spray during both the years of experimentations. Similarly, among the drought mitigating practices, application of 2% KCl + 0.4% Sodium selenite spray was found significantly superior to others during both the years of experiment. 100% RDF + 2% Urea spray resulted in maximum gross return, net return and B:C ratio during both the years of study. Among the drought mitigating practices, application of 2% KCl + 0.4% Sodium selenite spray showed maximum gross return during both the year while maximum net return as well as B:C ratio were associated with 2% KCl spray during both the year of investigation.

The move towards higher production of quality crops with alternative land use systems i.e. agri-horticulture system in combination with adequate supply of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur and improved varietal selection can solve the problem of lower productivity. Consequently, the present study illustrated that selection of crop varieties according to land use system with balanced nutrients supply can optimize the crop production in sustainable manner. The study showed that the performance of crop with different varietal selection was influenced by the different levels of nutrients supply. The growth and yield parameters were significantly affected with the application of 60, 30, 30, 30 kg of N, P2O5, K2O and S/ha and produced significantly higher seed yield (675 kg/ha) as compared to 40, 20, 20, 20 kg of N, P2O5, K2O and S/ ha and 20, 10, 10, 10 kg of N, P2O5, K2O, and S/ha among various fertility levels.

A field experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research Farm, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh (India) on sandy clay loam soil during winter season of 2012-13 and 2013-14 to find out the effect of integrated nutrients and drought mitigating strategies on productivity, water use efficiency and soil health of rainfed chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). The result showed that the application of 100% RDF + 2% urea spray proved significantly superior to the 100% RDF+ 25% N (VC), 100% RDF + 5 kg Zn/ha and 100% RDF in terms of the number of pods/plant (51.41), seed pod (1.18), 100-seed weight (26.81 g), seed yield (1 200 kg/ha) and water use efficiency (13.36 kg/ha/mm) of chickpea and available nutrients in soils (187.06 kg/ha N, 22.66 kg/ha P2O5, 203.99 kg/ha K2O, 18.20 kg/ha S and 0.66 mg/kg Zn soil) during both the years. Similarly, foliar spray of 2% KCl + 0.4% sodium selenite recorded maximum values of number of pods/plant (55.06), seeds/pod (1.14), 100-seed weight (26.16 g) and finally seed yield (1 159 kg/ha) of chickpea which was found comparable to 2% KCl during both the years. Maximum water use efficiency (12.93 kg/ha mm) and available soil nutrients (188.57 kg/ha N, 22.15 kg/ha P2O5, 204.03 kg/ha K2O, 17.83 kg/ha S and 0.66 mg/kg Zn soil) were recorded highest under 2% KCl + 0.4% sodium selenite during both the years.