Response of chickpea cultivars to application of boron in boron-deficient calcareous soils

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of four boron (B) doses (control, 0 kg B ha-1; B1, 1 kg B ha-1; B2, 3 kg B ha-1; and B3, 6 kg B ha-1) in soils deficient in available B (0.19 mg B kg-1) and lime (CaCO3) content (20.7%) on yield and some yield components of five chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes, namely Akçin-91, Population, Gökçe, İzmir-92, and Menemen-92 in central Anatolian Turkey in the 2002 and 2003 growing seasons. Plant height, pods per plant, grain yield, protein content, protein yield, thousand seed weight, and leaf B concentration were measured. Grain yields in all genotypes (except for Gökçe) were significantly increased by 1 kg ha-1 B application. Application of 1 kg ha-1 B increased the yield by an average of 5%. Genotypes studied showed significant variations with respect to their responses to additional B. Akçin-91 gave the highest grain yield (1704.8 kg ha-1) at 3 kg B ha-1, whereas Population, İzmir-92, and Menemen-92 yielded best (1468.2 kg ha-1, 1483.0 kg ha-1, and 1484.7 kg ha-1, respectively) at 1 kg B ha-1. Interestingly, Gökçe reached to the highest level of grain yield (1827.1 kg ha-1) at the control. Gökçe was a B deficiency B tolerance genotype. The other genotypes appeared to have high sensitivity to B deficiency. This study showed that B deficiency could result in significant yield losses in chickpea under the experimental conditions tested. Thus, B contents of soils for the cultivation of chickpea should be analyzed in advance to avoid yield losses. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.