Development of Agronomic Practices for Chickpea Production in Alberta
Chickpea production information has not been developed for Alberta. Information on cultivar performance, inoculation, seeding rates, seeding dates, and fertilizer recommendations will be developed.
IPNI-2000-CAN-AB20
15 Mar 2001
Methodology
- Field trials were carried out at four locations (Table 1) in 2000. Experiment 1 treatments were arranged as a randomized split-split block design, with the main plots being the varieties, the subplots being the inoculant treatments, and the sub-subplots being the nitrogen treatments. Experiment 2 treatments were arranged as a randomized complete block design (phosphate fertilizer rates). Experiment 3 treatments were arranged as a randomized complete block design (sulfate fertilizer rates). Experiment 4 treatments were arranged as a randomized strip block design, with the main plots being the seeding dates, and the subplots being the seeding rates.
The chickpea varieties used in the Experiment 1 treatments were Desi (Myles) and Kabuli (Sanford). Experiments 2, 3, and 4 treatments used the Desi variety. The inoculant used in Experiment 1 was a self-stick inoculant. The N rates used in Experiment 1 were 0, 20, 40, 60, and 80 kg ha-1 using urea. The Experiment 2 phosphate (P2O5) rates were 0, 15 and 30 kg/ha-1 . The Experiment 3 sulfate-sulfur (SO4-S) rates were 0, 10 and 20 kg ha-1. The Experiment 4 treatments included three different seeding dates, and targeted five different seeding rates at 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 seeds/m2.
Treatments were replicated four times on Experiments 1 and 4 and five times on Experiments 2 and 3. Experiments 1, 2, and 3 were carried out at all research locations while Experiment 4 treatments were only carried out at Bow Island and Lethbridge. Soil samples were taken prior to fertilization in the fall. Five samples were taken in each replicate and combined to get one bulk sample for the 0-15, 15-30, 30-60 and 60-90 cm depths. These samples were air dried and then sent to the Soil and Crop Diagnostic Centre for routine analysis including N, P, K, S, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, pH and electrical conductivity. Automatic recording rain gauges were set up at each site during the growing season.
Table 1. Location, cropping system and soil zone of each research site.
| Location | Cropping System | Soil Zone |
| Bow Island | Fallow | Brown |
| Carmangay | Fallow | Dark Brown |
| Carmangay | Stubble | Dark Brown |
| Milk River | Stubble | Brown |
| Milk River | Fallow | Brown |
| Lethbridge | Stubble | Dark Brown |
Eight rows were seeded with 18 cm row spacings in each treatment. The total area harvested for each treatment was 9.94 m2. After harvest the following data was determined for each treatment: percent moisture content, grain yield, bushel weight, grain protein (Near Infrared Spectroscopy) oil content, and P and Ca levels on each variety. Yield samples were adjusted to 9.5% moisture.
Analyses of variance (Statistical Analysis Systems Institute, Inc. 1985) were conducted to determine the significance of treatment differences. Student Newman-Keuls test was used for mean separation, where significant treatment effects were noted.