Effect of Phosphorus on Growth, Yield and Economics Attributes of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L) the Semi–Arid Condition of Kandahar Afghanistan

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the Agronomy farm, Afghanistan National Agricultural Science and Technology University, during the period from 2 March to 12 June 2020 to find the optimum level of phosphorus application for chickpea and study the effect of phosphorus on the growth, yield attributes and economics attributes of chickpea. The experiment was laid out in a Split Plot design having four replications with pour levels of P (0, 30, 45 and 60 kg P2O5 ha-1).with three replications. All the nutrients were applied as basal on land preparation operation. Seeds were sown manually @ 30 kg ha-1 for flatbed as well as @ 45cm x 10 cm spacing for raised bed. Observations were recorded for various growth parameters and yield attributes at 30 DAS, 60 DAS and at harvest. Statistical analysis of data was done online through OPSTAT software. 60 kg phosphorus significantly enhanced growth parameters of chickpea viz., plant height (5.03cm, 8.96 cm and 26.03 cm at 30 DAS, 60 DAS and at harvest), dry matter plant-1 (4.25 g, 6.38 g and 16.15 g at 30 DAS, 60 DAS and at harvest. Yield attributes viz., number of pod plant-1 (21.21), number of grain pod-1 (1.66), and 1,000 grain weight (208.03 g) .Yield of chickpea viz., grain yield (1.48 t ha1 ), Stover yield (1.63 t ha-1) biological yield (4.03 t ha-1) and harvest index (28.03 t ha-1) were recorded significantly higher with 60 kg phosphorus. Similarly, significantly higher economics attributes viz., Cost of cultivation (29081 AFN ha-1), gross returns (123798AFN ha-1), net returns (94716 AFN ha-1), and benefit cost ratio (3.26) recorded with 60 kg P2 O5 .