Influence of Scheduling of Irrigations on Water Use, Water Use Efficiency and Moisture Extraction Pattern of Chickpea in Vertisols

Abstract

Under limited water supply scheduling of one irrigation at 45 DAS was found most effective (20.2 q ha^-1) for chickpea (Cv A-1) with maximum water use efficiency (6.51 kg ha^-1 mm) than schedulding of irrigation either at 30 (lr 60 DAS on medium black clay loam soil. If water is available for two irrigations, higher yields could be obtained (23.7 q ha-1) with water use efficiency of 5.28 kg ha^-1 mm by scheduling irrigation at 30 and 60 DAS. Under unlimited water supply, maximum yield of chickpea (27.0 q ha^-1 could be obtained by scheduling of irrigation at 30,45 and 75 DAS with water use efficiency of 5.27 kg ha^-1 mm. Maximum moisture was extracted (31.2%) from deeper layers (61-90 em) when one irrigation was scheduled at 45 DAS followed by two (29.3%) and three (27.8%) irrigation schedules. As the frequency of irrigation increased from one (35.2%)to three (37.1%), the moisture extracted from top layer (0.-30 em) increased and consequently water use efficiency declined.