Foliar application improves the productivity of the late sown chickpea (Cicer arietinum) in Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh

A field experiment was carried out in the years 2019–20 and 2020–21 at Banda, Bundelkhand region to evaluate the performance of foliar nutrition on late sown chickpea crop during the Rabi season. The experiment was laid out in Randomized block design consisting of six treatments including the recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) (T1), RDF + foliar spray of 1% NPK at 30 days after seeding (DAS) (T2), RDF + foliar spray of 1% NPK at 50% Flowering stage (T3), RDF + foliar spray of 1% NPK at 30 DAS and 50% flowering stage (T4), RDF + foliar spray of 2% NPK at 30 DAS (T5), and RDF + foliar spray of 2% NPK at 30 DAS and flowering stage (T6) and replicated 4 times. During both years, the chickpea crop was grown in 12 December. The mean increases in yield by foliar application at both the stages with RDF (T4 and T6) treatment was 32, 10, 11, and 12% than RDF alone (T1) or foliar application at single stage i.e. T2, T3 and T5, respectively. The economic efficiency was also better with T4 (1.50) and T6 treatments (1.42) than RDF alone application (1.04). Overall, our study concluded that, applying a 1% NPK mixture at 30 DAS and during the flowering stage to late sown chickpea crop generates a 3.1 q/ha greater yield compared to applying RDF alone, regardless of the year.