Chickpea water use efficiency as affected by tillage in rainfed Mediterranean conditions

Purificación Fernández-García, Luis López-Bellido, Verónica Muñoz-Romero and Rafael J. López-Bellido

Agricultural Water Management, 2013, vol. 129, issue C, 194-199

Abstract: Under rainfed Mediterranean conditions, chickpea production can be increased by improving the soil water content (SWC). This study was conducted on a Vertisol in southern Spain over a period of ten years (2000–2009) to determine the effects of the tillage system on the SWC and the water use (WU) of the chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) crop. The study was performed as part of a long-term experiment called “Malagón” that started in 1986; the tillage systems treatments were no-tillage (NT) and conventional tillage (CT). The NT treatment recorded more water at sowing in all soil depths studied (0–30cm, 30–60cm and 60–90cm). However, the CT treatment had higher SWC at harvest in the deeper layers (30–60cm and 60–90cm). The NT treatment improved the grain yield significantly compared with the CT treatment (1180kgha−1 and 1082kgha−1, respectively). The greatest WU occurred under the NT treatment, with 375mm, compared with 355mm under the CT treatment. This difference could be related to a higher nodule biomass in NT treated crops. However, the influence of the tillage system on the precipitation use efficiency (PUE) and the water use efficiency (WUE) was not clear.

Keywords: No-tillage; Conventional tillage; Soil water content; Precipitation use efficiency; Vertisol (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:129:y:2013:i:c:p:194-199

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2013.07.022

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