Chickpea cultivation as influenced by phosphorus & sulphur application

India is one of the major pulses growing country of the world, accounting roughly for one third of total world area under pulse cultivation and one fourth of total world production. Among the pulses, chickpea is a most important rabi crop with high acceptability and wider use. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) belongs to the genus Cicer, tribe Cicereae, family fabaceae and sub-family Papilionaceae. Phosphorus is the most limiting nutrient for the production of crops. It plays primary role in many of the physiological processes such as the utilization of sugar and starch, photosynthesis, energy storage and transfer. Legumes generally have higher P requirement because the process of symbiotic nitrogen (N) fixation consumes a lot of energy.Likewise, sulphur is a vital part of the ferredoxin, an iron-sulphur protein occurring in the chloroplasts. Ferredoxin has a significant role in nitrogen dioxide and sulphate reduction and assimilation of N by root nodule and free living N-fixing soil bacteria.