© 2017 PP House Efect of Water Retaining Polymer Applicaton on the Productvity of Chickpea (Cicer arietnum) Under Dryland Agriculture S. K. Dingre * , D. D. Pawar, M. G. Shinde and G. L. Tarte Dept. of Irrigaton Water Management, Post Graduate Insttute, MPKV Rahuri Dist. Ahmadnagar (413 722), India A feld experiment conducted during 2009−10 and 2010−11 to assess the efect of water retaining polymer on chickpea in light soils of western Maharashtra. The experiment comprised of 7.5, 10.0, 12.5, 15.0 17.5 and 20 kg ha -1 applicaton of water retaining polymer before sowing and results were compared with conventonal method in randomized block design with three replicatons. The superior chickpea yield (22.5 q ha -1 ) obtained when water retaining polymer applied @ 15 kg ha -1 which was signifcantly on par with 12.5 kg ha -1 applicaton (21.2 q ha -1 ). The conventonal method of chickpea cultvaton recorded signifcantly lowest yield (14.1 q ha -1 ). Pooled data indicated that water retaining polymer applicaton increase the yield by 8 to 55%. The 20 kg ha -1 water retaining polymer used less quantty of water (21.43 cm) over conventonal method (27.35 cm) with 10.3 to 27.6% water saving. Field water use efciency improved considerably under applicaton of 15 kg ha -1 water retaining polymer (10.1 kg ha -1 mm -1 ) among all treatments studied. The higher gross monetary returns (Rs. 67500 ha -1 ), net monetary returns (` 28757 ha -1 ) and B: C rato (1.7) were also obtained with 15 kg ha -1 polymer applicaton, however it was on par with the economical parameters obtained under 12.5 kg ha -1 polymer applied. Hence, 12.5 kg ha -1 water retaining polymer applicaton before sowing was found suitable for chickpea cultvaton in dry land areas of western India. 1. Introducton Chickpea (Cicer arietnum L.) is one of the most important rabi crop and premier pulse of India. India grows chickpea on about 8.56 mha area with 7.35 mt producton and 858 kg ha -1 average productvity which represents 30% and 38% of the natonal pulse acreage and producton, respectvely (Tomar, 2010). In Maharashtra which lies in semi arid part of western India, cultvaton of chickpea mostly done as a sole rain fed crop and it experiences moisture stress during crop growth resultng into low productvity. The productvity of chickpea in the state is low because it is mainly grown under receding moisture conditons with very limited or no irrigaton. Chickpea responds well to irrigaton and its yields can be increased upto 20−30% if supplemental irrigaton is provided (Bhata et al., 2006). With the advent of new cultvars responsive to irrigaton and higher productvity, the area under chickpea cultvaton (1.09 mha) is increasing at very fast rate in Maharashtra (Krishnamurthy and Sreeramula, 2007). However, the productvity of chickpea is stll low in Maharashtra due to limited soil moisture available in rabi season, lack of improved agro techniques and minimum use of inputs (Jamdagni, 2007). Crop producton potental in dryland region remains under exploited mainly due to constraint of efectve water management. The limited availability of water therefore, necessitates the use of water management aids that can retain water for longer duraton (Anupama et al., 2005; Singh et al., 2006). The use of some water retaining polymer i.e. soil adjuvant may be an alternatve for efcient management of water resources for dry land conditons. Small amount of these polymers can produce a signifcant conditoning efect in soil that lasts for a long tme. Many investgatons showed that synthetc polymers are efectve means for improving structure and chemical propertes of soil (Pradhan, 1993; Fullen et al., 1995; Brandsma et al., 1999). The soil polymer belongs to an acrylic series, polyacrylamide, polyocrylonitrile, polyacrylic acid and their polymers. There are also natural polymers such as cellulose, brown coal, peat and their conversion products but their efciency is too low. Use of cross linked hydrogels holds potental in this regard as these materials can alter the soil characteristcs because of their ability to absorb water many tmes their weight and Irrigaton, water-retaining polymer, water use, moisture content Keywords: Abstract Article History Manuscript No. AR1806 Received in 8 th March, 2017 Received in revised form 22 nd May, 2017 Accepted in fnal form 7 th June, 2017 S. K. Dingre e-mail: sachindingre@redifmail.com Corresponding Author Doi: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.23910/IJBSM/2017.8.3.1806 388 International Journal of Bio-resource and Stress Management 2017, 8(3):388-392 Full Research