Identification of suitable chickpea variety (S) under different growing environments in cotton-based cropping system

A research study was performed during rabi/summer 2023-24 at Agricultural Research Station, Adilabad to identify suitable chickpea variety(s) to be cultivated under late sowing environment in cotton-based cropping system based on growth, yield and economical parameters. The study was conducted in strip plot design in three replications with varieties as horizontal factor viz., NBeG-119, NBeG-810, NBeG-857, JG-14 and JAKI-9218; varied growing environments as vertical factor viz., December 1st week, 2023; December 3rd week, 2023 and January 1st week, 2024. The outcome of experiment showed that JG-14 recorded higher seed yield (2564 kg ha-1) and biological yield (7672 kg ha-1) analogous to NBeG-857 (7558 kg ha-1). Plant height and dry matter were higher for NBeG-810 (46.1 cm and 4036 kg ha-1 respectively) but equivalent with JG-14 (42.5 cm) for plant height at harvest stage. Lower yield was recorded with NBeG-119. Among growing environments, December 1st week obtained higher plant height (44.9 cm), dry matter (3817 kg ha-1), seed yield (2234 kg ha-1) and biological yield (6697 kg ha-1) all being on par with December 3rd week except biological yield. Lower growth and yield were registered from January 1st but were comparable with December 3rd week. The cultivar JG-14 (2.20) among varieties and December 1st week (2.03) among growing environments resulted in higher B:C ratio analogous with December 3rd week.