Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T19:27:58.310Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On-Farm Assessment of Improved Crop Production Practices in Northwest Syria. I. Chickpea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2008

M. Pala
Affiliation:
Farm Resource Management Program, ICARDA, PO Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria
A. Mazid
Affiliation:
Farm Resource Management Program, ICARDA, PO Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria

Summary

Thirty on-farm trials were conducted in northwest Syria over a period of four seasons to examine the main effects and interaction of sowing date, sowing method, Rhizobium inoculation, phosphate application and weed control on chickpea (Cicer arietinum). Advancing the sowing date from spring or late winter to early winter resulted in substantial yield increases. The effects of Rhizobium inoculation were small and inconsistent. Chemical weed control significantly increased grain yield compared with the unweeded control treatment in winter-sown crops but was less effective than hand weeding. Phosphate application significantly increased yield in the first three seasons, the overall increase being 10%. Drilling chickpea seed gave an overall 10% increase in yield compared with the broadcast sowing commonly practised by farmers. There is no economic or environmental risk to the farmer in adopting the proposed practices either singly or in combination. However, the greatest gains in yield and net revenue are derived from a combination of early winter sowing, drilling, weeding and, where appropriate, phosphate application.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

AASA (1987). The Annual Agricultural Statistical Abstract. Damascus, Syria: Department of Planning and Statistics Division of Agricultural Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform.Google Scholar
Bahn, V. M. & Kukula, S. (1987). Weeds and their control in chickpea. In The Chickpea, 319328 (Eds Saxena, M. C. and Singh, K. B.). Wallingford, UK: CAB and ICARDA.Google Scholar
Cooper, P. J. M., Gregory, P. J., Tully, D. & Harris, H. C. (1987). Improving water use efficiency of annual crops in the rainfed farming systems of West Asia and North Africa. Experimental Agriculture 23:113158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FAO, (1988). FAO Production Yearbook, Vol. 42. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization.Google Scholar
Harris, H. C. & Pala, M. (1987). Tillage and stubble management effect on soil conservation, crop establishment and yield, and economics of production. In Farm Resource Management Program Annual Report for 198–, 4169. Aleppo: Syria: ICARDA-131 En.Google Scholar
Hawtin, G. C. (1975). The status of chickpea in the Middle East. In Proceedings of International Workshop on Grain Legumes, ICRISAT, 13–16 January 1975, 109116. Hyderabad, India: ICRISAT.Google Scholar
Hawtin, G. C. & Singh, K. B. (1984). Prospects and potential of winter sowing of chickpeas in the Mediterranean region. In Ascochyta Blight and Winter Sowing of Chickpeas, 716 (Eds Saxena, M. C. and Singh, K. B.). Aleppo, Syria: ICARDA.Google Scholar
ICARDA (1989). Meteorological Reports for ICARDA Experiment Stations in Syria: 1988/89 Season. Syria: ICARDA, Aleppo. (Not yet published).Google Scholar
Kassam, A. H. (1981). Climate, soil and land resources in North Africa and West Asia. Plant and Soil 58:129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keatinge, J. D. H. & Cooper, P. J. M. (1983). Kabuli chickpea as a winter sown crop in N. Syria: Moisture relations and crop productivity. journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 100:667680.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keatinge, J. D. H. & Cooper, P. J. M. (1984). Physiological and moisture-use studies on growth and development of winter-sowing chickpeas. In Proceedings of International Workshop on Ascochyta Blight and Winter Sowing of Chickpeas, ICARDA, 4–7 May 1981, 141157 (Eds Saxena, M. C. and Singh, K. B.). Aleppo, Syria: ICARDA.Google Scholar
Matar, A. E., Saxena, M. C. & Silim, S. (1987). Soil test calibration for phosphorus with five food and forage legumes in Syria. In Proceedings of the 2nd Regional Workshop on Soil Test Calibration, ICARDA, 1–6 September 1987, Ankara, Turkey.Google Scholar
Osman, A. E., Cocks, P. S., Russi, L. & Pagnotti, M. A. (1991). Response of Mediterranean grassland to phosphate and stocking rates, biomass production and botanical composition. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 116:3746.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rupela, O. P. & Saxena, M. C. (1987). Nodulation and nitrogen fixation in chickpea. In The Chickpea, 191206 (Eds Saxena, M. C. and Singh, K. B.). Wallingford, UK: CAB and ICARDA.Google Scholar
Saxena, M. C. (1980). Recent advances in chickpea agronomy. In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Chickpea Improvement, 28 February–2 March 1979, ICRISAT, Patancheru, Hyderabad, India, 8996.Google Scholar
Saxena, M. C. (1987). Agronomy of chickpea. In The Chickpea, 207232 (Eds Saxena, M. C. and Singh, K. B.). Wallingford, UK: CAB and ICARDA.Google Scholar
Saxena, M. C., Silim, S. N. & Singh, K. B. (1990). Effect of supplementary irrigation during reproductive growth on winter and spring chickpea (Cicer arietinum) in a Mediterranean environment. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 114:285293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solh, M. B. & Pala, M. (1988). Weed control in chickpea. Paper presented at seminar on present status and future of chickpea crop production in the Mediterranean countries, 1113 July, Zaragoza, Spain.Google Scholar
Steel, R. G. D. & Torrie, J. H. (1980). Principles and Procedures of Statistics. Second edition. McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Tregubov, P. S. (1981). Effective erosion control in the USSR. In Soil Conservation Problems and Prospects, 451459 (Ed. Morgan, R. P. C.). Chichester, UK: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar