Full Length Research Paper

Effects of rhizobium inoculation, sulfur and phosphorus applications on yield, yield components and nutrient uptakes in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Necat Togay¹, Yesim Togay¹, Kerim Mesut Cimrin² and Metin Turan³

¹Yüzüncü Yıl University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Field Crops, 65080, Van, Turkey.

²Yüzüncü Yıl University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science, 65080, Van, Turkey.

³Atatürk University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science, 25240, Erzurum, Turkey.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: necattogay@hotmail.com. Tel: +90432-2251794.  Fax:  +904322251119.

Accepted 6 February, 2008

This study was carried out to determine the effects of sulfur and phosphorus application and rhizobium inoculation for a chickpea variety, Aziziye-94, under Eastern Turkey conditions in 2004 and 2005. The trial was laid out in split-split block design with three replications. Chickpea variety was applied on three different sulfur levels (0, 50 and 100 kg ha^-1), phosphorus levels (0, 40 and 80 kg ha^-1) and inoculation (inoculated and uninoculated). Whereas the highest grain yield were obtained from 80 kg ha^-1 P with 819 kg ha^-1 from 100 kg ha^-1 S with 758 and from inoculation with 723 kg ha^-1. In the first year, they were obtained from 80 kg ha^-1 P with 879 kg ha^-1 from 100 kg ha^-1 S with 818 and from inoculation with 784 kg ha^-1 in the second year. Nutrient uptake by grain of chickpea significantly increased due to sulfur doses, except for P uptake in grain at the year of 2004 and S uptake in grain at the year of 2005. Sulfur application significantly increased the uptake of Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu in grain in the both years. The effects of different doses of phosphorus application on nutrient uptakes by grain were found to be statistically significant in both years.

Key words: Chickpea, phosphorus, sulfur, yield, nutrient uptake.