Effect of arbuscular mycorrhiza fungus (Funneliformis mosseae) and weeds interference on yield and yield components of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) under dryland conditions in Urmia

In order to study the effects of weed interference and mycorrhiza (Funn eliformis mosseae) on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of chickpea, the recent study was carried out in 2016-2017 at Agricultural Research Center of West Azarbayjan. The treatments included mycorrhiza symbiosis in two levels (with and without) and weeds competition in four levels (control, grass pea, chicory and grass pea) which were arranged as factorial plots based on randomized complete block design in three replications. The plant characteristics were studied in terms of number of nitrogen fixing nodules, seed protein, leaf temperature, percentage of colonization, biological yield and grain yield. In addition, dry matter production in chicory and grass pea were measured. The highest number of nodules per chickpea root (24.41) were obtained by using mycorrhiza and weeds (chicory and grass pea) while the lowest number of nodules per chickpea root (12.91) were observed in presence of weeds without mycorrhizal symbiosis which shows a significant difference between these two (89%). The results showed that the highest grain yield (915.6 Kg/ha) was achieved in control treatment (without weed plus using mycorrhiza) while the lowest belonged to the treatment without mycorrhiza and in presence of weeds (395.6 Kg/ha), which showed 131% difference between these two treatments. In general, using mycorrhiza as input led to increased number of nodules per root and improved the grain yield of chickpea under dry-land conditions.