Effect of Spacing on Yield Components and Yield of Chickpea (Cicer arietinumL. ) at Assosa, Western Ethiopia

A field experiment was conducted in Assosa District of western Ethiopia during 2013 cropping season to determine the effect of different inter row (20, 30, 40, 50cm) and intra row spacing (5, 10, 15cm) on growth parameters, yield components and yield of Desi chickpea. The experimental design was randomized complete block design in factorial arrangement with three replications. There was highly significant (P<0.01) effect of both inter row and intra row spacing on days to 50% flowering, days to 90% maturity, number of seeds per pod, hundred seed weight. The 50cm inter row spacing gave the highest number of seeds per pod (1.23) and hundred seed weight (25.38 g). Number of seeds per pod and hundred seed weight were significantly increased as the intra row spacing increased. The interaction effect of inter row and intra row spacing was significant on plant height, number of primary branches, number of pods per plant, above ground dry biomass, grain yield and harvest index. For all of the inter row spacing, the number of primary branches was increased as the intra row spacing increased. There was a progressive increase of number of pods per plant as the inter- and intra-row spacing increased while the highest above ground dry biomass (10650.27 kg ha-1) was recorded at 20×5cm spacing. For all of the inter row spacing, the harvest index was increased as the intra row spacing increased. The 30cm inter- by 10cm intra- row spacing gave the highest grain yield (1219 kg ha-1) while the lowest grain yield (733 kg ha-1) was recorded from 50cm × 15cm spacing which was statistically similar to the yield obtained from 40cm × 15cm spacing. From this study it can be concluded that even if 20cm×15cm, 30cm×15cm, 30cm×10cm and 40cm×5cm spacing combinations showed statistical parity, 30cm×10cm or 30cm×15cm spacing can tentatively be recommended.