Sowing chickpea on raised bed can increase yield, claims expert
Kanpur, March 1 (UNI) Sowing chickpea on raised bed could enhance the crop yield by about 17 per cent, according to an agricultural scientist.
Interacting with media persons here recently, H S Sekhon, an agro scientist from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, observed that sowing chickpea on raised bed would minimise the damage caused to soil, by paddy and wheat crop rotation. This would eventually, lead to enhancement of chickpea crop yield between 11.5 and 16.8 per cent, he added.
Quoting his research paper on the issue, Prof Sekhon said that chickpea should be grown, at rows 30 cm apart on raised bed of 67.5 cm width, with one irrigation at pod initiation stage. This resulted in 11.5 per cent higher yield over the flat bed sowing without irrigation and 16.8 per cent increase over the raised bed sowing without irrigation, he added.
Besides providing higher grain yield, the sowing of chickpeaon raised bed also reduced risk of damage due to rainfall because of better drainage. It would also help in improving the soil fertility and safeguard natural resources, besides sustaining crop yield, Prof Sekhon maintained.
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