EFFECT OF PLANT AND ROW SPACING ON DRYLAND GRAM (CICER-ARIETINUM) YIELD, NODULATION AND WATER-USE EFFICIENCY

A field experiment was conducted from 1986-87 to 1988-89 with dryland gram or chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) to rind out effect of inter- and intra-row spacings on yield, nodulation and water-use efficiency. The chickpea was seeded during winter season of 1986-89 on sandy soil at Kharagpur in row spacings of 20, 35 and 50 cm and within row spacings of 10, 15 and 20 cm. The yields were least from the 20 cm row width. H owever intra-row spacings had no significant effect on seed yield. Und er adequate water supply wider rows did not show any yield advantage o ver narrow rows. Wider row spacings helped in increasing the dry weigh t of nodule/plant. Soil water depletion was generally confined to 80 c m soil depth. The water use was not significantly influenced by plant spacing, however it was more with 20 cm spacing. Water-use efficiency was minimum for 20 cm row spacing. Results on water-use indicated that close planting enhanced water use before flowering. This increased ea rly-season water utilization under restricted water supply created les s water available for grain filling, and ultimately seed yield was red uced significantly.