Thermal requirements, heat use efficiency and plant responses of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars under different environment

A field experiment was conducted to study the thermal requirement of chickpea cultivars during rabi seasons of 2012-13 and 2013-14 at Research Farm, College of Agriculture, Tikamgarh (Madhya Pradesh). The experiment was laid out in split-plot design with three replications consisted three sowing dates viz., October 25, November 14 and December 4 and three varieties viz., JG 322, JG 11 and JG 16 as main plot and sub-plot treatments, respectively. Results revealed that duration of phenological stages and thermal unit during sowing to maturity decreased with successive delay in sowing. October 25 sowing produced significantly higher total dry matter accumulation, more number of pods higher seed yield and biological yield as compared to November 14 and December 4. Among cultivars, JG 16 exhibited significantly higher total dry matter accumulation, HUE, more number of pods higher 100-seed weight higher seed yield and biological yield followed by JG 11 and JG 322.