Influence of sowing rates, sowing methods and seed inoculation on seed germination and plant survival of chickpea

Abstract

The article shows the influence of sowing methods, sowing rates and inoculation on field germination of seeds and plant survival of chickpea.In today’s conditions, due to climate change, producers are looking for highly productive niche crops that can replace traditional legumes (peas, beans, broad beans) with more promising non-traditional crops for the forest-steppe zone. Chickpeas could become such a crop at present. Chickpeas are a more drought-resistant crop than other legumes (soybeans, peas, lupins). They provide high stable productivity in southern conditions, and when irrigated, their yield doubles.Chickpeas are always in high demand on the grain market. Expanding the area under this crop allows us to obtain higher profits and stabilise the country’s economy.Unfortunately, many factors currently affect the production of legumes: reduction in area, decline in productivity, climate change, market instability (falling prices).Chickpeas are a little-known crop for the forest-steppe conditions. Currently, there is insufficient research on this crop. Therefore, our task is to improve the technology of growing common chickpeas in the forest-steppe conditions.This remains a pressing issue, which is why research is needed.After analysing three years of data, we concluded that sowing methods had no significant effect on field germination and survival of chickpea plants, but a more significant difference in these indicators was found depending on the seed sowing rate and inoculation.As the seed sowing rate increased from 0,4 to 0,7 million/ha, their field germination decreased from 94,2 to 83,3%.Sowing methods did not affect field germination of seeds.Higher survival rates of chickpea plants before harvesting were established at a seed sowing rate of 0,4-0,5 million/ha – 80,5-79,4% without inoculation, 82,0-81,1% with rhizotorfin inoculation. This indicator was 1,0-1,5% higher with the continuous sowing method.The data obtained will make it possible to expand knowledge about the features of sowing methods, seed sowing rates, and chickpea seed inoculation to obtain high yields.It will enable the development of recommendations for the use of these indicators in chickpea cultivation, which will increase the productivity of this crop and improve its quality indicators.