TY  - JOUR
N2  - Tall and erect chickpea cultivar HC 5 (Haryana Chana 5) was primarily bred for inter-cropping with autumn planted sugarcane. Cultivar HC 5 is distinctly different in morphology from traditional bushy or semi-spreading chickpea cultivars and it is found suitable for machine harvesting. However, a general recommended planting density (30 cm?×?10 cm) is being followed for cv. HC 5 as well. In this study, we hypothesized that high-density planting can improve crop productivity and also improve the plant architecture for mechanical harvesting. To test this hypothesis, four plant spacing treatments (30 cm?×?10 cm, 30 cm?×?7.5 cm, 22.5 cm?×?10 cm, and 22.5 cm?×?7.5 cm) were evaluated in two chickpea cultivars (HC 5 and JAKI 9218) for crop growth, grain yield and the desirable plant traits for mechanical harvesting. The highest grain yield of cv. HC 5 was observed with 22.5 cm?×?10 cm spacing that increased the grain yield by 9% (p?<?0.05) over plant spacing of 30 cm?×?10 cm (conventional); this indicates that high-density planting could increase the productivity of the cv. HC 5. Where grain yield of cv. JAKI 9218 was reduced (p?<?0.05) with the increase in planting density over 30 cm?×?10 cm. Increased grain yield of cv. HC 5 with 22.5 cm?×?10 cm spacing over 30 cm?×?10 cm was mainly attributed to increase in plant density (33%); however, all the plant attributes (primary branch, secondary branch, pod plant?1) were reduced as compared to plant spacing of 30 cm?×?10 cm. The decrease in intra-row spacing of cv. HC 5 resulted in a strong adverse effect on plant growth and yield parameters as compared to inter-row spacing and thus not recommended. High-density planting increased the plant height (erectness) and ground clearance of cv. HC 5 (height of first pod) (~?30 cm), an essential prerequisite for mechanical harvesting, but not in cv. JAKI 9218. Hence, cv. HC 5 requires a dense planting for higher yield and appropriate plant structure for mechanical harvesting. Therefore, it is recommended to work out the optimum planting geometry/plant population to realize the potential yield of cultivars bred for mechanical harvesting.
N1  - The authors acknowledge the financial support received from Department of Agricultural Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India under the National Food Security Mission project ?Developing chickpea cultivars suited to mechanical harvesting and tolerant to herbicides?.
AV  - restricted
KW  - Chickpea
KW  -  Planting geometry
KW  -  Mechanical harvesting
KW  -  First pod height
KW  -  Yield
A1  - Singh, U
A1  - Gaur, P M
A1  - Chaturvedi, S K
A1  - Hazra, K K
A1  - Singh, G
TI  - Changing Plant Architecture and Density can Increase Chickpea Productivity and Facilitate for Mechanical Harvesting
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s42106-019-00047-7
JF  - International Journal of Plant Production (TSI)
SP  - 1
Y1  - 2019/03//
ID  - icrisat11134
EP  - 10
SN  - 1735-8043
PB  - Springer
ER  -