Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Seyedreza Amiri ¹
• Sajjad Rahimi-Moghaddam ²

¹ Department of Plant Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Higher Educational Complex of Saravan, Iran

² Department of Production Engineering and Plant Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Khorramabad, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Chickpea is one of the important legumes in West Asia and North Africa. It is also one of the important legumes in rainfed agricultural systems in these regions. Although Iran has the fifth rank in terms of under chickpea cultivation, it ranks 47th in terms of average grain yield per hectare (400 kg/ha). In dry areas of Iran, chickpea yield is highly dependent on the amount of rainfall and its seasonal distribution. Therefore, annual changes in rainfall make it difficult to employ a unitary agricultural management that leads to maximum crop yield with a predictable trend over the years. Chickpea is the most important legume crop in Iran, accounting for over 50% of cultivated legume lands, and is primarily planted under rainfed conditions. Chickpea production is significantly lower than other crops.
Methodology: Simulation of the potential yield of rainfed chickpea was carried out  using the SSM-Chickpea model and rainfed chickpea yield resulting from farmers' crop management practices, including planting date, plant density, and nitrogen in 12 main chickpea growing regions were evaluated. These experiments consisted of 9 independent field experiments. In the current research, the model was evaluated based on the comparison of measured and simulated values for grain yield. Statistical indices including determination coefficients (R²) and normalized root mean square error (nRMS) were used.
Research findings: The simulation with model SSM-Chickpea showed that the average potential rainfed chickpea yield was 1200 kg/ha. The simulation results also indicated that the optimal planting date for all regions was mid-December, as dormant seeding management, led to an increase in grain yield of about 10% in Urmia and 60% in Khorramabad compared with the spring sowing date. Optimal plant density was 20 plants/m² resulted in a 27% increase in grain yield in Islamabad-e Gharb. Regarding the plant nutrition, the results showed that using 20 kg/ha as a starter fertilizer led to up to a 10% increase in grain yield in the Eqlid and Khorramabad. In all studied regions cv. Bivanij had 23% greater grain yield comparing ILC 482 and a large part of chickpea grain yield potential depented on agricultural management practices in general and planting date, specifically.

Keywords

• Planting date
• planting density
• nitrogen
• model

Main Subjects

• Crops under rainfed cultivation