Impact of Sowing Date and Variety on the Performance of Chickpea in the Western-Terai Region of Nepal

Anil Pokhrel *

Grain Legumes Research Program (GLRP), Khajura, Banke, Nepal.

Sangharsh Raj Dangi

Grain Legumes Research Program (GLRP), Khajura, Banke, Nepal.

Padam Prasad Poudel

Grain Legumes Research Program (GLRP), Khajura, Banke, Nepal.

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.


Abstract

Aims: An appropriate date of sowing and selecting a suitable variety are the most important factors to produce chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Thus, a field experiment was conducted to determine the impact of sowing dates on the growth and yield of chickpea varieties.

Study Design: The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design.

Place and Duration of Study: This experiment was conducted at the Grain Legumes Research Program (28° 06'' 45'N latitude, 81° 35'' 58' E longitude, and 182 masl) during the winter season of two consecutive years, 2022/23 and 2023/24.

Methodology: The experiment was conducted under three replications involving five sowing dates viz., 1st November, 8th November, 15th November, 22nd November, and 29th November as a main factor, and two promising varieties viz., KPG 59 and ICCV 97207 as a sub-factor in ten treatment combinations.

Results: Findings show that the sowing date was highly significant (P = .01) and influenced the days to flowering and maturity, while the yield and harvest index was significantly (P = .05) influenced. The 15th November sown chickpea produced the highest seed yield (2679 kg/ha) and harvest index (38.9%) compared to the other sowings. Comparatively, the variety ICCV 97207 took a longer number of days to flower and mature (98 and 148 days), produced a taller plant (65.5 cm) with a higher 100 seed weight (24.5 g(, and ultimately higher seed yield (2544 kg/ha) and harvest index (37.4%) than the KPG 59 variety which yields lower (2338 t/ha).

Conclusion: It can be concluded that the higher seed yield of chickpea was found from variety ICCV 97207 with the sowing on 1st November (2826 kg/ha).

Keywords: Chickpea, sowing date, variety, yield, harvest index


How to Cite

Pokhrel, Anil, Sangharsh Raj Dangi, and Padam Prasad Poudel. 2025. “Impact of Sowing Date and Variety on the Performance of Chickpea in the Western-Terai Region of Nepal”. Asian Journal of Research in Crop Science 10 (1):28-36. https://doi.org/10.9734/ajrcs/2025/v10i1329.