Effect of Biofertilizers and Salicylic Acid Foliar Application on Yield and Yield Components of Chickpea Cultivars under Rainfed Conditions

Biofertilizers play a fundamental role in sustainable agriculture and salicylic acid reduces the harmful effects of stress. Rainfed farming of chickpeas in western Iran is often under drought stress. In order to investigate the effect of foliar application of salicylic acid (non-application, 0.5 and 1 millimolar) and biofertilizers (non-application of biofertilizers, biosuperphosphate bacteria, biosulfur bacteria, Rhizobium bacterium, and mycorrhizal fungus) on yield of two chickpea cultivars (Bivanij and Azad) a factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replication was conducted in two years (2016-2017) in Kermanshah under rainfed conditions. The studied traits were number of pods per plant, number of empty pod per plant, number of seeds per plant, 100 seed weight, fertile pod, grain yield, dry matter yield, and harvest index. The results showed that triple interaction of cultivars × salicylic acid × biofertilizers had a significant effect on all traits except number of seeds per pod. Bivanij cultivar had the highest grain yield (in the first and second year were 1821 and 1875 kg.ha-1, respectively), dry matter yield (in the first and second year were 4076 and 4414 kg.ha-1, respectively) and number of seeds per plant (18.8) in 0.5 mM Salicylic acid and Rhizobium bacterium. Application of Salicylic acid and biofertilizer could be recommended in rainfed farming of chickpea to increase drought tolerance, yield, and reduce chemical fertilizer application resulting in sustainable agriculture.