Comparison of Entezari and Spring Cultivation of Commercial Chickpea Varieties in Rainfed Lands of Cold Regions

Changing planting dates from spring sowing to Entezari sowing could increase the efficiency of rain use in rainfed farming. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of Entezari cultivation of chickpea cultivars, experiments were carried out in split plots as a randomized complete block design with three replications in two years. Two planting dates including spring and Entezari sowing and seven chickpea cultivars (Local landrace, Hashem, Arman, Azad, Saral, Adel and Sameen) were used in this study. This study was implemented from November 2016 at two cropping seasons in Boroujen region (Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province). The results showed that planting dates and cultivars were effective on 100-seed weight, number of pods per plant and grain yield. The interaction of planting date and cultivar was also effective on grain yield (p≤0.01). The results showed that the highest grain yield was obtained from Entezari sowing date (716.9 kg ha-1). In the Entezari sowing date, Adel cultivar had the highest grain yield (812.9 kg ha-1). In spring planting date, Arman cultivar had the highest grain yield (471.9 kg ha-1). In general, it seems that the use of Adel and Arman cultivars in Entezari sowing could be increased farmers' economic income by increasing grain yields (71.9%) at the same cost as spring crops.