African Crop Science Journal African Crop Science Society ISSN: 1021-9730 EISSN: 2072-6589 Vol. 5, Num. 1, 1997, pp. 23-29

Soil surface drainage and yield of chickpea grown on vertisols in Ethiopia

GELETU BEJIGA, ABEBE TULLU, SEIFU TSEGAYE, MILLION ESHETE and YADETA ANBESSA

Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Centre, P.O. Box 32, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia

(Received 20 June, 1996; accepted 27 January, 1997)

Code Number: CS97004
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A study was carried out to determine the effects of soil surface drainage and sowing dates on the yield of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Three seed bed types [broad bed and furrow (BBF), ridge and furrow (RF), and flat] and three sowing dates, beginning of early August, at an interval of 14 days were used. The trial was grown at Debre Zeit and Akaki in 1987, 1988 and 1989 cropping seasons. The trial was planted in a split plot design with 3 replications. The highest mean seed yields of 3111.1 and 3388.9 kg ha^-1 were obtained from the first sowing date at Debre Zeit in 1988 and Akaki in 1989. Early sowing increased seed yield by 9.5 to 48% at Debre Zeit and 17.4 to 45% at Akaki as compared to the third sowing date (late August). There was no significant difference among the mean seed yields of different seed bed types. Ridge and furrow (traditional) method was as effective as BBF in removing the excess water. Above all, it did not require additional implement to make RF as compared to BBF which is made by broad bed maker (BBM).

Key Words: Broad bed and furrow, ridge and furrow, broad bed maker, Cicer arietinum

RESUME

Une experience a ete conduite pour determiner les effets du drainage de surface et de la date de semis sur la recolte de Cicer arietinum L. Trois types de lits (lit de labour (BBF), crete de labour (RF), et lit plat) et trois dates de semis, intervalles de deux semaines commencant debut Aout ont ete utilises. Les experiences ont ete executees Debre Zeit et Akaki en 1987, 1988 et 1989 en utilisant la variete Mariye. L'essai a ete plante en schema de split plot avec trois repetitions. Les recoltes les plus hautes de 3111.1 et 3388.9 kg/ha sont obtenues pour les premires periodes de semis Debre Zeit en 1988 et Akaki en 1989. En comparant un semis precoce avec la troisime periode de semis (fin Aout) la recolte des graines augmentait de 9.5 48 % Debre Zeit et 17.4 jusqu'a 45 % a Akaki. Il n'y avait pas de difference significative entre les recoltes moyennes selon les types de lits. La Crete de labour (la methode traditionnelle) etait aussi efficace que BBF en ce qui concerne l'enlevement de l'excedent d'eau. En plus, on a pas besoin d'outils (faiseur de lit large) pour faire RF en comparant avec BBF. Parce que les vertisols sont aussi visqueux quand mouille, il est difficile pour etablir une BBF pour Cicer arietinum en mi-Aout.

Mots Cles: lit de labour, crete de labour, faiseur de lit large, Cicer arietinum

INTRODUCTION

Vertisol is among the major soil types in Ethiopia, and covers a total of 12.6 million hectares (Asgelile, 1990; Jutzi, 1990). Tamirie (1987) reported that Vertisols account for 17% of the total soils of Ethiopia and rank third after Entisols (26%) and Inceptisols (23%). Vertisols are associated with heavy waterlogging problems, particularly in the high rainfall areas of Ethiopian highlands. Hence, most of the crops which are sensitive to waterlogging are not planted on Vertisols in the rainy season. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the most sensitive crops to waterlogging and, consequently, it is planted at the end of rainy season. Thus, it grows on conserved soil moisture. Interestingly, the geographic distribution of Vertisols in Ethiopia overlaps with that of chickpea growing regions in the high rainfall zones (950 to 1600 mm) (Tamirie, 1987), since these soils have the ability to retain moisture during the crop growth period.

Geletu and Abebe (1982) obtained a seed yield increase of 50% or more in chickpea planted during the rainy season (August) as compared to the traditional planting time (mid-late September). However, this early planting requires well drained plots to avoid waterlogging. Realising the potential of Vertisols in Ethiopia in increasing food production, a multi-disciplinary research project was formed in 1986 in which International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the National Research Institutions of Ethiopia were involved (Jutzi and Mesfin, 1986; Asgelile, 1990). The experience gained from this joint project revealed that draining soils increases grain and straw yields reliably by 50% or more (Jutzi, 1990).

Broad bed and furrow (BBF) is considered as an efficient way of getting rid of excess water (waterlogging) from Vertisols. In chickpea, the use of improved drainage was assumed to allow early planting during the rainy season (August) and thus enable the crop to escape from terminal drought and desiccating wind that usually affects it during grain filling period. Taye (1976) and Geletu and Abebe (1982) showed that sowing chickpea earlier than August results in poor emergence and low plant population because of excessive rains, while later sowing results in poor emergence, low plant population, and reduced crop duration which affects the crop growth and development. Chopra and Sinha (1987) found that the early pod development stage of chickpea is most sensitive to low water stress. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to: 1) identify effective methods of seed bed preparation that drain water from the soil surface and allow early sowing; 2) assess problems associated with early sowing of chickpea; and 3) determine the yield advantage over the traditional sowing date.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A field trial using chickpea variety "Mariye" was carried out for three years at Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Centre (flat) and Akaki testing site (gentle slope) during 1987, 1988 and 1989 growing seasons. This trial was grown on heavy clay soils (Vertisols). Three sowing dates, of 14-day intervals, beginning from early August and three seed-bed types [broad-bed and furrow (BBF), ridge and furrow (RF) and flat] consitituted the treatments. The experiment was planted in a split-plot design with three replications,with the seed-bed types as main plots and planting dates as the sub-plots.

The size of each plot was 18m^2 (3.6 x 5m). Each treatment plot consisted of nine rows of 5 m length, and spaced 40 cm apart. The spacing between plots and blocks were 0.8 m and 1 m, respectively. Animal drawn broad-bed maker (BBM) and 'Maresha' (local ploughing implement) were used for constructing the BBF and RF plots for soil surface drainage. Each BBF plot consisted of three raised beds, each of 80 cm width and 5m length. Beds on the BBF plot were separated by 40cm space with 20 cm deep furrows to drain out the water. In ridge and furrow (RF) plots, nine ridges each of 20 cm width were used. Ridges on the RF plots were separated by furrows of 20 cm width and 20 cm depth.

Observations were made on days to 50% flowering and 95% maturity on sub-plot basis while plant height (cm) was collected on 5 randomly selected plants in each sub-plot. Seed weight was recorded on 100 seeds randomly taken from those harvested from each sub-plot. Seed yield was determined from a whole sub-plot. Data on all characters were analysed using a split -plot design following the procedures outlined in Gomez and Gomez (1984).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The analysis of variance for days to 50% flowering revealed that there was no significant difference between seedbed types (Table 1) but, there were significant effects of sowing dates. The interaction between methods and dates was also non-significant, revealing that these factors do not interact to affect days to 50% flowering. Similarly, there was no statistical difference among the seed bed types for days to maturity except at Akaki in 1989. Sowing date significantly influenced number of days to maturity across years and locations (Table 1). The seed bed types significantly influenced plant height at Akaki in 1988 and 1989 while its effect was non-significant at Debre Zeit in all the three years. Sowing date also significantly influenced plant height at both locations in 1987 and 1989 cropping seasons, showing that the first sowing date had good vegetative growth when compared to the third sowing date whose plant grew under moisture stress. There was no significant difference among the 100-seed weight recorded on different seed beds, indicating that this character was not influenced by environment as previously indicated by Geletu et al. (1991).

Table 1

Highest mean seed yields of 3111.1 and 3388.9 kg ha^-1 were obtained from the first sowing date at Debre Zeit in 1988 and Akaki in 1989 but, generally, delayed planting reduced seed yield in all three years (Fig.1). The statistical analyses made separately for the three years revealed that there were significant differences among the mean seed yields of different planting dates except in 1988 at Debre Zeit (Table 2). Seed yield increases of 48.2%, 9.5% and 42.6% were obtained when the first sowing dates were compared with that of the third sowing dates (late August) at Debre Zeit during 1987, 1988 and 1989 cropping seasons (Fig. 1). Similarly, seed yield increases of 45%, 35.9% and 17.4% were obtained when yield of the first sowing date was compared with that of the third sowing date at Akaki in 1987, 1988 and 1989 cropping seasons (Fig. 1). The overall mean seed yield of the two locations and three years showed a yield increase of 31.3% in the first date (early August) as compared to that of the third sowing date (late August).

Figure 1

Figure 2

Table 2

Correlations between seed yield and the amount of rainfall received in each sowing date were positive (0.884, 0.324 and 0.696) but non-significant in all the three years at Debre Zeit. This non-significance was mainly due to even distribution of rainfall during the early crop growth stage. However, the positive relationship suggests that early planting of chickpea would be advantageous since it allows the crop to mature early before the conserved soil moisture is completely depleted and the crop is exposed to desiccating wind.

There was no significant difference in seed yields among different seed bed types (BBF, RF and flat) for all the planting dates across the three years and two locations (Table 2). The interaction between seedbed types and sowing dates was significant. When rainfall was high, as in 1988 at Debre Zeit in the first sowing date, RF appeared to drain better and slightly increased seed yield compared to BBF and flat (Fig. 1). However, RF method is only good under heavy rainfall since it allows the water to run off the field. The low yield of the third sowing dates of chickpea in 1987 and 1989 at Debre Zeit showed that RF method does not allow adequate retention of residual soil moisture under low rainfall conditions, particularly if chickpea is planted late (Fig. 1). Nevertheless the RF still has important advantages over the BBF. Broad-bed and furrow (BBF) seed bed may only be useful in areas with gentle slope. Above all, the broad bed maker (BBM) is more expensive and generate additional costs to low income farmers. Its heaviness, with additional load of wet soils, demands special breed of oxen to pull it as compared to the local 'Maresha' which is easily pulled by the Ethiopian breeds to make the seed bed of ridge and furrow (RF). The RF method has been used by the Ethiopian farmers for centuries to drain water from waterlogged areas, particularly on Vertisols of the highland regions.

Generally, sowing date plays a major role in influencing the seed yield and other characters studied in this experiment. The ridge and furrow (RF) traditional method was as effective as broad bed and furrow (BBF). Moreover, RF is simple and inexpensive since the same 'Maresha' (Local ploughing implement) is used throughout the season. In BBF, the BBM (broad bed maker) is relatively expensive and is only used for covering seeds at sowing time. From these results, RF is recommended for use on the Vertisols for early sowing of chickpea until such time that other simple and more effective tools will be made available. Since Vertisols are too sticky when wet, and makes it practically impossible to make BBF for chickpea in the mid-August, BBF can be made for those crops that are planted early on dry soil before the onset of rainfall.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are very grateful to the management of Debre Zeit Agriculture Research Centre for its financial and administrative support. Mr. Ketema Alemu and Mr. Alemayehu Zemede are highly acknowledged for their assistance in data collection.

REFERENCES

Asgelile Dibabe. 1990. Ethiopian Vertisols management research. IAR Newsletter of Agricultural Research 5:9-19.

Chopra, R.K. and Sinha, S.K. 1987. Physiological aspects of growth and yield in chickpea. In: The Chickpea. Saxena, M.C. and Singh, K.B. (Eds.), 163-189. CAB International and ICARDA.

Geletu Bejiga and Abebe Tullu. 1982. The influence of planting dates on the yield of three chickpea (Cicer arietinum) varieties. Ethiopian Journal of Agricultural Science 4: 61-65.

Geletu Bejiga, Van Rheenen, H.A., Jagadish, C.A. and Singh, O. 1991. Correlations between yield and its components in segregating populations of chickpea (Cicer arietinum). Legume Research 14:87-91.

Gomez, K.A. and Gomez, A.A. 1984. Statistical Procedures for Agricultural Research. Second ed. John Willey and Sons, New York. pp. 97-107.

ICRISAT. 1986. Annual Report 1985. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), A.P. 502 324. India. pp. 279-280.

Jutzi, S.C. 1990. The Ethiopian Vertisols: A vast natural resource, but considerably under utilized. In: Proceedings of the First Natural Resources Conservation Conference. pp. 41-46. Natural Resources Conservation Conference, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 8-10 Feb., 1989.

Jutzi, S.C. and Mesfin Abebe. 1986. Improved Agricultural utilization of Vertisols in the Ethiopian highlands: An inter-institutional approach to research and development. Proceedings, IBSRAM Network in Africa on Improved Vertisols Management, Nairobi (Kenya), 1-6 December 1986.

Tamirie Hawando. 1987. Soil and climatic stresses on chickpea production in Ethiopia. In: Adaptation of Chickpea and Pigeonpea to Abiotic Stresses. Proceedings of the Consultantsrkshop held at ICRISAT Center, India, 19-21 December 1984. pp. 159-167.

Taye Bezuneh. 1976. Status of chickpea production and research in Ethiopia. In: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Grain Legumes, ICRISAT, Hyderabad, India, pp. 95-101.

Copyright 1997 The African Crop Science Society

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