Response of Biofertilizer and Foliar Spray of Boron on Growth and Yield of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out at Crop Research Farm, Naini Agriculture Institute, Department of Agronomy, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj during Rabi, 2022 on sandy loamy soil. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design, Replicated thrice, consisting of ten treatments i.e., Rhizobium 20 g   +   Boron 0.25%, Rhizobium 20 g   + Boron 0.5%, Rhizobium 20 g   + Boron 0.75%, PSB 20 g + Boron - 0.25%, PSB 20 g + Boron - 0.5%, PSB 20 g + Boron – 0.75%, Rhizobium 10 g + PSB 10 g   + Boron - 0.25%, Rhizobium 10 g + PSB 10 g   + Boron - 0.5%, Rhizobium 10 g + PSB 10 g   + Boron - 0.75%, and Control Plot. The field experiment result revealed that Rhizobium 10 g + PSB 10 g   + Boron - 0.75% has significantly increased the growth parameters viz., Plant height (46.54 cm), Number of nodules/plant (16.44), Plant dry weight (15.37 g/plant), pods/plant (55.61), seeds/pod (2.52), test weight (265.6 g), Seed yield (1.99 t/ha), Stover yield (5.95 t/ha) and Harvest index (25.06%). The economics of experiment, i.e., maximum gross return (106464.00 INR/ha), net return (76796 INR/ha) and B:C ratio (2.58) was also recorded in Rhizobium 10 g + PSB 10 g   + Boron - 0.75%.