Yield & yield components in chickpea (Cicer arientinum L.) as influenced by seed priming & foliar spray of bio-agents

Abstract

An field experiment entitled “effect of seed priming and foliar spray of bio-agents on yield and yield components in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)” was conducted during rabi 2017 at experimental field of STRU (Seed Technology Research Unit), Khanapur block-B, VNMKV, Parbhani, M.S. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications and ten treatments. Seed of chickpea var. Akash (BDNG-797) was subjected to seed priming with different bioagents for 12 hrs. Before sowing. The different bio-agents were applied as foliar application at different stages (at 15 days interval). The treatment Biomix @ 10ml/lit was found significantly superior for maximum speed of germination at field level. The plant height and number of branches increased significantly with spraying of bio-agent @ 10ml/ha. The bio-agents treatments significantly decrease days to flowering (38.7 days), days to 50% flowering (47.7 days) and days to physiological maturity (92.0 days) as compared to control. Yield parameters viz., Number of pods per plant (81.8 plant-1), number of seeds per plant (89.7),100 seed weight (22.8g), seed yield per plot (2.34 kg), seed yield per hector (2600 kg/ha) and harvest index (59.5%) increased significantly due to application of biomix @10ml/lit. followed by the treatment Metarhiziumanisopliae@10ml/lit. in the chickpea genotype Akash (BDNG-797).