Comparison of mechanical and traditional planting methods and their effects on chickpea yield under dryland condition

Spring sowing, landraces cultivation, traditional cropping without machine facilities are the major factors reducing chickpea yield under dryland conditions. In order to compare mechanical sowing of chickpea (researcher recommended method) with broad-cast sowing (hand planting without controlling of the herbs), this study was carried out under farmer field (7 hectares) at East Azerbayjan (Khodajoo region) during 2011-2012 cropping season. Results of sampling from the field showed that there were significantly differences between experimental treatments in cases of seed yield, biomass yield and plant height. But there were no significantly differences between treatments from harvest index and one hundred seed weight point of view. Seed yield was 873 kg/ha in mechanical sowing method (researcher recommended method), that had significantly difference with farmer treatment (303 kg/ha). Results of this study confirmed the superiority of mechanical sowing to traditional sowing of chickpea under dryland condition.