Influence of nipping and foliar application of nutrients on growth and yield of chickpea in rain-fed condition

Although,chickpea isnitrogen fixing crop but water scarcity under rain-fed condition reduces its nodulation process severely and nutrients use efficiency too. An experiment was carried out regarding the combined effect of nipping as well as foliar applied fertilizers on yield and yield components of chickpea under rain-fed conditions. Nipping and foliar application of nutrients significantly improved number of pods plant(-1), biological yield (kg ha(-1)), harvest index (%) and final grain yield (kg ha(-1)). However, non-significant influence was seen in 1000-grain weight and number of grains pod(-1). Foliar application of N PK (20:20:20)@2.5 kg ha(-1) x nipping was found to be the best interaction among others which significantly increased number of branches plant(-1) (11.30), number of pods plant(-1) (115.36), plant height(59.48cm) and grain yield(2338.9 kg ha(-1)) as compared to the control treatment. Nipping along with foliar application of NPKcan be practiced in chickpea for higher profitability.