Response of Chickpea [Cicer arietinum (L.)] Varieties to Seed Rate and Time of Sowing in 1B Zone of Rajasthan, India

A field experiment entitled “Response of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Varieties to Seed Rate and Time of Sowing in 1B Zone of Rajasthan” was conducted during rabi season of 2023-24 at Crop Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Tantia University, Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized complete block design with three replications. There were 24 treatment combinations consisting of two varieties (GNG-1581 and GNG-2171), three seed rate (62.5, 75.0 and 87.5 kg/ha) and four date of sowing (1st and 3rd week of October and 1st and 3rd week of November). The chickpea variety GNG-1581 recorded significantly higher seed yield (1408 kg/ha), number of pods/plant (60.44), seed weight/plant (11.24 g), total dry matter production at harvest (10.592 g/plant) as compared to GNG-2171. The significantly higher seed yield was obtained with a seed rate of 87.5 kg/ha (1502 kg/ha) over 75.0 kg/ha and 62.5 kg/ha. The chickpea sown during October 1st week recorded significantly higher seed yield (1756 kg/ha), higher number of pods/plant (56.00), seed weight/plant (13.81 g) and leaf area index at 60 days (1.27) as compared to another late sown chickpea. However, the GNG-2171 with a seed rate of 87.5 kg/ha and sowing during October 1st week recorded maximum net returns (Rs. 65,552/ha) and B:C ratio (3.26) over other combinations.