International Journal of Horticulture, 2024, Vol.14, No.2, 59-65 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/ijh 59 Research Report Open Access Optimizing Chickpea (Cicer arietinumL.) Yield Through Balanced Fertilization Strategies Kiran Prasad Upadhayaya 1 , Arati Chapai 2 1 Agriculture Section, Madi Municipality, Chitwan, 44200, Nepal 2 Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, 44800, Nepal Corresponding authors: wordsforkiran@gmail.com; chapaiarati100@gmail.com International Journal of Horticulture, 2024, Vol.14, No.2 doi: 10.5376/ijh.2024.14.0007 Received: 06 Mar., 2024 Accepted: 27 Mar., 2024 Published: 12 Apr., 2024 Copyright © 2024 Upadhayaya and Chapai, This is an open-access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Upadhayaya K.P., and Chapai A., 2024, Optimizing chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) yield through balanced fertilization strategies, International Journal of Horticulture, 14(2): 59-65 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2024.14.0007) Abstract The study was conducted to determine fertilizer dosage that maximizes Chickpea yield, focusing on the Dhanush variety. Twelve fertilizer treatments were assessed at the research field of Agro Nine Company Pvt. Ltd., Madi, Chitwan, using a Randomized Block Design (RBD) replicated three times. Data were collected from five sample plants per plot. Results indicate that among the treatments, RDF supplemented with 25% vermicompost on a nitrogen basis yielded the highest output (2,799.73 kg/ha), followed by RDF supplemented with 25% FYM on a nitrogen basis (2,643.42 kg/ha). Treatment T4 exhibited the highest biological yield (6,537.38 kg/ha) and test weight (141.63 gm). Conversely, the control treatment displayed lower yields and poor growth and development across multiple parameters. These findings underline the need for further research to optimize fertilizer dosages for enhancing Chickpea yield, potentially benefiting farmers' economic standards. Keywords Chickpea; Vermicompost; Integrated nutrient management; Madi; Chitwan Introduction Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), popularly called vegetable meat, is globally recognized as the third most significant pulse crop, following beans and peas. Botanically, cowpea belongs to the family Leguminosae and the subfamily Fabaceae. It is the only cultivated species in the genus Cicer and a self-pollinated diploid (2n = 2x = 16) crop (Varshney et al., 2013). It is a rich source of nutrients such as proteins (23%), carbohydrates (40%), vitamins, and essential amino acids (Jukanti et al., 2012). Chickpea (Cicer arietinumL.) is an important pulse crop grown and consumed all over the world, especially in the Afro-Asian countries. It is a good source of carbohydrates and protein, and protein quality is considered to be better than other pulses. Chickpea has significant amounts of all the essential amino acids except sulphur-containing amino acids, which can be complemented by adding cereals to the daily diet. Starch is the major storage carbohydrate followed by dietary fibre, oligosaccharides and simple sugars such as glucose and sucrose. Although lipids are present in low amounts, chickpea is rich in nutritionally important unsaturated fatty acids such as linoleic and oleic acids. β-Sitosterol, campesterol and stigmasterol are important sterols present in chickpea oil. Ca, Mg, P and, especially, K are also present in chickpea seeds. Chickpea is a good source of important vitamins such as riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, folate and the vitamin A precursor β-carotene. As with other pulses, chickpea seeds also contain anti-nutritional factors which can be reduced or eliminated by different cooking techniques. Chickpea has several potential health benefits, and, in combination with other pulses and cereals, it could have beneficial effects on some of the important human diseases such as CVD, type 2 diabetes, digestive diseases and some cancers. Overall, chickpea is an important pulse crop with a diverse array of potential nutritional and health benefits (Jukanti et al., 2012). Chickpea seeds contain more β-carotene than golden rice endosperm based on dry weight, as reported by Ye et al. (2000) and Abbo et al. (2005). The area under cultivation of chickpeas in Nepal is about 17,005 ha with production and productivity only of 9,380 tons and 0.55 tons/ha, respectively (STATISTICAL-INFORMATION-ON-NEPALESE-AGRICULTURE-2071-72.Pdf, n.d.). Though the cultivated area of chickpea occupies an area to a great extent but its overall productivity in Nepal is comparatively low due
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