Development of Agronomic Practices for Chickpea Production in Alberta

Chickpea production is new to the western Canadian prairies and has been expanding consistently in the past few years. The objective of this study is to evaluate two types of chickpeas under varying management treatments in order to develop agronomic production practices for southern Alberta. Experiments evaluated chickpea response to variety, inoculant, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), sulfate-sulfur (SO₄^2–-S), seeding date, and seeding rate.

Severe drought conditions existed again in 2001 and, as a result, reduced most of the opportunity to observe response to input management in this study. It was very evident that chickpeas are a drought tolerant crop, and this year’s data show that the Desi type may be more drought tolerant than the Kabuli type at all of the four test locations. There was no significant yield or bushel weight response to applied P at any of the research sites. Soil P levels were medium to high at all sites, and together with very dry conditions, there was a reduced chance of a P response. This project will continue for another year to gather more data on the nutrient requirements of chickpeas. AB-20F