Impact of chickpea and wheat co-cropping on crop growth, nutrient uptake and root induced biochemical changes

Intercropping and manuring of legumes are important measures to sustain fertility and enhance productivity of soil. Therefore, a greenhouse study was conducted to evaluate the effect of intercropping of four wheat genotypes (Inqlab-91, WL-41, WL-886 and WL-1076) with chickpea on rhizodeposition, yield and their N and P contents. Wheat and chickpea were grown up to maturity to assess N and P uptake, and record yield data. All the tested wheat cultivars produced higher biomass when grown in association with chickpea than when grown alone while the growth of chickpea decreased in intercropping system. At three weeks of growth, increase in root biomass of wheat cultivars was higher compared to their shoot biomass while at seven weeks of growth, the trend was opposite. Intercropped wheat cultivars produced significantly higher grain yield (upto 76%) than their sole stand while the trend was opposite in chickpea. Dehydrogenase and nitrate reductase activities of root zone soil were significantly higher in pots containing chickpea plants either grown alone or intercropped with wheat. Potential nitrification was significantly higher in soil where chickpea was grown alone. Grain N and P contents of all the co-cropped wheat cultivars were significantly higher than that of the wheat alone. The results clearly showed beneficial effects of mixed cropping system in improving growth, grain yield and protien content of wheat and superior nodulation/Nfixation by chickpea for better utilization of fixed N by the companion crops.