RESPONSE OF RAINFED CHICKPEA (Cicer arietinum L.) TO TWEEN ROW SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT AT MULTIPLE DENSITIES

Plant density and arrangement are important factors affecting rainfed chickpea yield. A field experiment was conducted under the Eastern Mediterranean conditions for two consecutive growing seasons (2009-2010 and 2010-2011) to evaluate the effects of plant density (20, 25, 35 and 55 plants per m(2)) and spatial configuration (conventional single 36-cm row width vs 18-cm twin rows spaced 72-cm between paired-rows). The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design in a factorial arrangement with three replications. Light interception (LI) and leaf area index (LAI) were significantly affected by plant density. Twin-row arrangement had higher light interception efficiency (LIE) than the single-row. Plants grown in the higher plant densities had greater LAI and LI; however, they had inefficient use of incident solar radiation. The number of primary branches was significantly affected by both planting patterns and plant densities, but the number of secondary branches was significantly affected only by the plant densities. The number of pods and seeds/plant decreased with the increasing plant density. The highest seed weight/plant was recorded at the lowest density (20 plants/m(2)) while the lowest one was recorded at the highest plant density (55 plants/m(2)). Seed weight and harvest index in the twin row were significantly higher in tween row than in the single row.