Yield and Water Productivity of Chickpea (<i>Cicer arietinum</i> L.) as Influenced by Different Irrigation Regimes and Varieties under Semi Desert Climatic Conditions of Sudan

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Hudeiba Research Station Farm, located at Ed-Damer, Sudan during 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 winter seasons to investigate the effect of different irrigation regimes and varieties on chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.) yield, yield components and water productivity. The treatments include three irrigation regimes; irrigation every 10 days (I1 = full irrigation), irrigation every 15 days (I 2 = moderate stress) and irrigation every 20 days (I 3 = severe stress) and two varieties (Borgieg and Wad Hamid). The treatments were arranged in factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 3 replications. Irrigation water being applied, grain yield, yield components (number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod and the 100 seeds weight) and crop water productivity (CWP) and irrigation water productivity (IWP) were recorded. Results showed that the number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, 100-seeds weight, grain yield and irrigation water applied were significantly ( p ≤ 0.001) affected by irrigation regimes. The highest values of these traits obtained with full irrigation, whereas the lowest values were recorded under severe water stress conditions. Results also indicated that, moderate and severe water stress regimes saved irrigation water by 24% and 32%, respectively compared with full irrigation. This study indicated that treatment I 1 which was irrigated every 10-days did not produce the highest IWP, while treatment I 2 which irrigated every 15-days gave the highest IWP. The lowest IWP occurred at severe water stress regime (I 3 ). It could be concluded that moderate water stress might be adopted. Contrarily, the adoption of severe water stressed that produce high water savings would lead to yield losses that might be economically not acceptable. The late maturing chickpea variety of Borgieg significantly ( p ≤ 0.05) out-yielded the early maturing variety Wad Hamid by 11%. Borgieg displayed the highest values of CWP and IWP.