Evaluation of Chickpea Cultivation Approaches in Terms of Environmental Resilience and Future Protein Security

Mohd Mazid¹*, Rajib Roy Chowdhury², Fiza Khan³

¹Department of Botany, Faculty of Life sciences, AMU, Aligarh.

²Department of Biotechnology, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan.

³G.F. College, Rohilkhand University, Bareilly.

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CARJ.2.2.07

Abstract:

The commercial growth in chickpea production for exportation purposes is not keeping pace with increasing demand for protein and protein derived products. In this concern, a pot experiment was conducted under field conditions during winter 2013-2014 at Botany department, AMU, Aligarh, India. Treatment consists of (1) F_W (2) F_P (3) F_S (4) F_PS (5) S_GA (6) S_GA+F_P (7) S_GA+F_S (8) S_GA+F_PS (9) F_GA (10) F_GAP (11) F_GAS (12) F_GAPS (13) S_GA+F_GA (14) S_GA+F_GAP9 (15) S_GA+F_GAS (16) S_GA+F_GAPS.  Before sowing, the seeds of chickpea are soaked for 8 h in 10^-6M GA3. After 60 and 70 days of sowing, the plants were sprayed with 10^-6MGA₃ along with 2 kg P and /or S/ha in equal splits. Performance of the crop was assessed especially in terms of nodule number per plant, nitrate reductase activity (NR), nitrogenase (N-ase) two most significant N-fixing enzymes, leghaemoglobin content (Lb), pod weight per plant, seed yield per plant, and seed protein content. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) content in leaves were influenced almost non-significantly due to applied P and S level. Treatment (16) S_GA+F_GAPS proved best, it enhanced NR by 22.37% and 22.46%; Lb by 206.113 and 215.38% respectively at 90 and 100 DAS. Seed yield per plant and seed protein content enhanced by 86 and 21% by the same treatment at harvest without compromising the N-fixing activity.

Keywords:

GA₃; N-Fixation; Nitrate Reductase Activity; Protein Content; Seed Yield

Download this article as: 

[ HTML Full Text]