Effect of Plant Density on Yield Components and Yield of Kabuli Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Varieties at Debre Zeit, Central Ethiopia

Variety- and location-specific plant density recommendation is one of the agronomic practices used to increase the production and productivity of chickpea. However, there is a blanket recommendation across locations and varieties of chickpea in Ethiopia. Hence, field experiment was carried out from September 4, 2012 to January 25, 2013 to determine the response of kabuli chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) varieties to plant spacing at Debre-Zeit, Central Ethiopia. Factorial combinations of three kabuli chickpea varieties (Acos Dubie, Chefe and Ejeri), three inter-row spacing (20, 30 and 40 cm) and two intra-row spacing (10 and 15 cm) were laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. As inter and intra-row spacing increased, the number of pods plant-1 was significantly increased whereas biological and seed yield were significantly decreased. Similarly, the main effect of variety showed a significant difference on number of pods plant-1 and hundred seed weight. Moreover, the interaction of variety and inter-row spacing were significant on harvest index. The highest seed yield (2340.33 kg ha-1) was obtained at 20 cm inter-row spacing whereas 40 cm inter-row spacing gave the lowest (1619.16 kg ha-1). Similarly, 10 cm intra-row spacing had the higher (2081.65 kg ha-1) seed yield as compared to 15 cm intra-row spacing (1758.32 kg ha-1). This result showed that kabuli chickpea varieties can be planted at inter-row spacing of 20 cm and intra-row spacing of 10 cm in Debre-Zeit area to attain maximum yield instead of previously used plant density (33 plants m-2).