Response of Chickpea Cultivars to Application of Boron in Boron‐Deficient Calcareous Soils

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of four boron (B) doses (control, 0 kg B ha−1; B1, 1 kg B ha−1; B2, 3 kg B ha−1; and B3, 6 kg B ha−1) in soils deficient in available B (0.19 mg B kg−1) and lime (CaCO3) content (20.7%) on yield and some yield components of five chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes, namely Akçin‐91, Population, Gökçe, İzmir‐92, and Menemen‐92 in central Anatolian Turkey in the 2002 and 2003 growing seasons. Plant height, pods per plant, grain yield, protein content, protein yield, thousand seed weight, and leaf B concentration were measured. Grain yields in all genotypes (except for Gökçe) were significantly increased by 1 kg ha−1 B application. Application of 1 kg ha−1 B increased the yield by an average of 5%. Genotypes studied showed significant variations with respect to their responses to additional B. Akçin‐91 gave the highest grain yield (1704.8 kg ha−1) at 3 kg B ha−1, whereas Population, İzmir‐92, and Menemen‐92 yielded best (1468.2 kg ha−1, 1483.0 kg ha−1, and 1484.7 kg ha−1, respectively) at 1 kg B ha−1. Interestingly, Gökçe reached to the highest level of grain yield (1827.1 kg ha−1) at the control. Gökçe was a B deficiency B tolerance genotype. The other genotypes appeared to have high sensitivity to B deficiency. This study showed that B deficiency could result in significant yield losses in chickpea under the experimental conditions tested. Thus, B contents of soils for the cultivation of chickpea should be analyzed in advance to avoid yield losses.