The Effects of Tillage and Fertilizers on Growth Characteristics of Kabuli Chickpea Under Mediterranean Conditions

Mediterranean semi-arid region is sensitive to physical, chemical and biological soil disturbances related to intensive tillage. Presented field experiment was conducted at Razan district, Hamedan, located in central west zone, Iran during the 2017–2018 growing season. It dealt with the effects of different tillage methods and treatments on growth, yield and yield contributing characters of spring Kabuli chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) under irrigated condition. Effects of two tillage methods – inversion tillage (mouldboard ploughing – T1) and non-inversion tillage (chisel ploughing – T2) – in combination with five different fertilization treatments (C: complete fertilizer; 20FYM: 20 Mg·ha⁻¹ farmyard manure; 40FYM: 40 Mg·ha⁻¹ farmyard manure; NPK: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium at 2-1-1 ratio; 0: no fertilizer for the control purposes) were studied. The experiment was carried out in split block design with three replications. Results showed that application of 40FYM under T1 condition significantly decreased the number of days to seedling emergence. The highest number of days to flowering was recorded for plants cultivated with inorganic fertilization and reduced tillage. Application of large amounts of FYM significantly increased the ground cover and canopy width for both tillage methods. The highest number of secondary branches was recorded for combination 40FYM – T1, which was followed by C – T2. The pod number per plant was considerably sensitive to different combination of treatments and the best results were recorded for combinations 40FYM – T2; 20FYM – T2; and 40FYM – T1. A similar trend was also recorded for the total dry matter. The heaviest seeds were observed in cases with the application of high levels of FYM. The highest seed yield was observed for plants cultivated using 40FYM – T2. Furthermore, the highest harvest index was recorded for 40FYM – T2, and C – T2. The results indicate that non-inversion tillage together with high-level FYM application can significantly affect the yield levels.