Abstract:
Chickpea is grown mainly as a non-irrigated post rainy season crop, therefore, to
increase the economic competitiveness of chickpea, the management of drought is
essential. A practice which can be used to enhance drought tolerance in plants is
osmotic adjustment besides stomatal control. A field experiment was carried out at the
College Farm of Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari during rabi 2003-04 to
evaluate the potentiality of chemical(s) which could be used to ameliorate water
stress and compensate yield reduction in chickpea under unirrigated condition.
During investigation four chemicals viz., Glycine betaine (10 ppm 20 ppm),
putrescine [16.11 ppm (10 µmol), 32.22 ppm (20 µmol)], PMA (10 and 20 ppm) and
KNO3 (100 and 200 ppm) were evaluated along with water spray besides unirrigated
and irrigated controls on two varieties of chickpea (GG-2 and Dahod Yellow).
Aqueous solutions of chemicals were applied at 40 and 60 Days after sowing (DAS)
on to the foliage. The results indicate that grain yield significantly declined due to
water deficit. All foliar application of chemicals showed promising effect on crop
health under unirrigated conditions. However, the significant effect was noticed with
KNO3 (200 ppm). The plants following foliar application of KNO3 (200 ppm) attained
significant increase in plant height, dry weight of plant, biomass, 100-seed weight and
grain yield. For biomass it was found statistically equivalent to the irrigated control.
Application of other chemicals was not as effective as KNO3 in alleviating stress.
Glycine betaine showed significant improvement in dry weight and test weight yet it
did not project potential yield of chickpea under unirrigated condition at Navsari.
