INFLUENCE OF VAM FUNGI AND PHOSPHORUS MANAGEMENT ON GROWTH, YIELD AND YIELD ATTRIBUTES OF CHICKPEA UNDER CHICKPEA-FODDER SORGHUM CROPPING SEQUENCE OF SOUTH GUJARAT

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted at the College Farm, N.M. College of Agriculture, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari during rabi and summer seasons of 2014-15 and 2015-16. The treatments comprised for chickpea were two levels and two sources of phosphorus (25 and 50 kg P2O5/ha from SSP and rock phosphate) along with and without VAM (Vesicular arbuscular mycorrhiza) @ 2.0 kg/ha as soil inoculants and one control i.e., control (No phosphorus and VAM to chickpea) and making ten treatment combinations, laid out in a randomized block design, replicated three times. The succeeding fodder sorghum crop was grown on the same layout, keeping chickpea treatments as main plots and two fertility levels as sub-plots [75 % of the recommended dose of 60 kg N + 30 kg P2O5/ha and 100% of the recommended dose of 80 kg N + 40 kg P2O5/ha]. Total twenty treatment combinations were in a split plot design (SPD) with three replications. The experiments during both years were conducted on the same site without changing the randomization of treatments. The highest seed and straw yields of chickpea were recorded with 50 kg P2O5/ha from SSP with VAM (T8) and was at par with 50 kg P2O5/ha from SSP alone (T4), 50 kg P2O5/ha from RP alone (T5) and 50 kg P2O5/ha from RP + VAM (T9). The increase in chickpea yields were the results of increased growth and yield attributes viz., plant height, number of branches per plant, dry matter accumulation, number of pods per plant, pod weight per plant, number of grains per plant and 100 seed weight also these all growth and yield attributes were found in accordance with the trend of chickpea yield