Morphological and Productivity Response of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) to Nano Biofertilization

Background: Chickpea productivity in the last decade has been declined due to improper management of inorganic and organic nutrient sources and it has been contended that the usual native soil rhizobial populations are insufficient/ineffective in N2 – fixation. Rhizobium based biofertilizers may substitute nitrogenous chemical fertilizers and provide a suitable way of achieving sustainable production. The effective use of exogeneous application of nano emulsion biofertilizer can enhance yield by reducing flower drop, regulating pod formation besides improving soil quality. In view of above consideration, the present investigation entitled “Morphological and productivity response of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) to nano biofertilization” was carried out. Methods: The field experiment was conducted on sandy clayey loam soil during two consecutive Rabi seasons of 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design (Factor) with three replications, assigning 45 treatments consisting of five soil applications (100% RDF; 100% RDF + FYM; 100% RDF + Vermicompost; 75% RDF + FYM; and 75% RDF + Vermicompost) as first factor and three foliar applications (Nano DAP; Nano Urea and Nano emulsion biofertilizer) as second factor treatments. Result: Application of Nano emulsion biofertilizer to chickpea variety (NBeG-49) at harvest had shown significant higher plant height (35.03 cm), dry matter production (3251.43 kg ha-1), leaf area index (0.90), crop growth rate (1.59 gm-2 day-1), relative growth rate (26.3 mg g-1 day-1), chlorophyll (SPAD value) (58.22), number of pods/plant (24.93), seed yield (1111.60 kg ha-1), straw yield (2501.10 kg ha-1) and nitrogen uptake (70.56 kg ha-1), phosphorus uptake (203.21 kg ha-1) and potassium uptake (54.30 kg ha-1).