INFLUENCES OF MICRO-NUTRIENTS (ZINC AND IRON) AND BIO-FERTILIZER ON YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS OF CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM L.) CULTIVARS

Nutrients deficiency in the soils is one of the key factors limiting pulses production in arid and semi-arid regions. Responses of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) cultivars (Jam from Kabuli type and Pirooz from Desi type) to Biosuper (The mixture of Azospirillum, Azotobacter, Basillus subtilis and Pseudomonas fluorescens) inoculation as bio-fertilizer and micro-nutrient (FeEDDHA and ZnSO4) fertilization were studied under field condition. Result revealed that micro-nutrient application could significantly improve plant height, chlorophyll index, number of primary and secondary branches, plants fresh weight and biological yield. Positive effects of micro-nutrients application on morphological traits were more predominant than bio-fertilizer inoculation. Grain yield and yield components were notably affected by investigated treatments. Micro-nutrient and bio-fertilizer had significant positive effect on number of pods, seed number per plant, number of filled and empty pods, 100-grain weight and grain yield. Nevertheless the best result was achieved through ZnSO4 application concomitant with bio-fertilizer inoculation. Future more results obtained from current study indicated that Kabuli type of chickpea was more responsive than Desi type against bio-fertilizer inoculation and micro-nutrients application. The results of the present study coincided with the conclusion that combined application of iron, zinc and bio-fertilizer can significantly improved chickpea yield in alkaline soils of semi-arid regions.