Mitigation of Moisture Stress through Foliar Spray of Thiourea, Salicylic Acid and Homobrassinolide in Chickpea Cicer arietinum L.

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Zonal Agricultural Research Station, Kalaburgi, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur to study the influence of foliar spray of thiourea, salicylic acid and homobrassinolide on crop growth and seed yield of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) under moisture stress conditions in rabi 2018-19. The experiment consisted of sixteen treatment combinations (four moisture stress with four foliar sprays) which was laid out in 2 factor RBD. Among the different treatments imposed, two foliar spray of thiourea @ 1000 ppm under no moisture stress (control) during flowering (45 DAS) and seed setting 75 DAS recorded significantly higher plant height (42.0 and 49.0 cm), leaf area index (3.020 and 2.003), number of primary branches plant-1 (9.1 and 10.7), chlorophyll content (SPAD values 64.4 and 56.6), number of pods plant-1 (64.3), 100 seed weight (25.0 g), drought tolerant efficiency 100.0 %, seed yield plant-1 (18.9 g) and hectare-1 (27.2 q) compared to other treatments.