Abstract
TWO FIELD experiments were carried out during 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 seasons, in the Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Koom, Egypt, to study the effect of six fertilization treatments, i.e., no fertilizer as a control (F-1), macro elements (F-2), micro elements (F-3), biofertilizer (F-4), organic fertilizer (F-5) and combination of macro and micro elements as well as bio and organic fertilizer treatments (F-6) on growth characters, yield and yield components and seed quality of two chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars, i.e., Giza 3 and Giza 195. The results could be summarized as follows:
1- Giza 195 cultivar significantly exceeded Giza 3 cultivar in growth characters (number of branches and leaf area/plant as well as leaves, stem and total dry weight/plant). The application of F-6 treatment exhibited the highest significant values of plant height and leaf area/plant as well as leaves, stem and total dry weight/plant. However, the maximum significant values of number of branches/plant were recorded when chickpea plants were treated with F-4. The interaction treatment of Giza 195 cultivar fertilized with F-6 treatment produced the highest values of leaves and total dry weight/plant
2- Giza 195 cultivar significantly surpassed Giza 3 cultivar in seed weight/plant and its components (no. of pods/plant, no. of seeds/pod, 100-seed weight and seed weight/pod), yields/ha (seed, straw and biological) and translocation indices (crop and harvest indices). The application of F-4 treatment was most effective for increasing seed weight/plant and its components as well as seed, straw and biological yields/ha. Giza 195 cultivar fertilized with F-4 treatment is considered the best interaction treatment for producing the highest values of no. of pods and seed weight/plant as well as seed and biological yields/ha in both seasons.
3- Giza 195 cultivar showed better performance and exceeded Giza 3 cultivar in seed quality (total nitrogen, total crude protein and carbohydrate percentages), while, Giza 3 cultivar was superior in fiber and ash percentages. The application of F-4 treatment produced the highest values of seed quality (total nitrogen, total crude protein and carbohydrate percentages), while, the highest values of fiber and ash percentages were obtained by the application of F-5 treatment as compared with the other tested fertilizer treatments.