D Vijaya Lakshmi, T Prabhakar Reddy, K Sridhar, M Parimala Kumar
The on-farm trials were conducted during two consecutive Yasangi (Rabi) seasons, 2021–22 and 2022–23, in chickpea growing farmers fields of the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district to evaluate the effect of molybdenum application on yield and economics of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). The experiment comprised four treatments, viz., farmer’s practice (T?), recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF: 20-50-20-20 kg NPKS ha?¹) (T?), RDF + seed treatment with sodium molybdate @ 1.0 g kg?¹ seed (T?), and RDF + soil application of ammonium molybdate @ 1.0 kg ha?¹ (T?). The results revealed that molybdenum application significantly improved chickpea yield and profitability over farmers practice and RDF alone. Among the treatments, T? recorded the highest seed yield (2267 kg ha?¹), net returns (?94,861 ha?¹), and benefit cost ratio (2.98), followed by T? and T?. Seed treatment with sodium molybdate proved more effective and economical than soil application due to its lower cost and higher efficiency. The study concludes that molybdenum seed treatment along with RDF is a promising strategy for enhancing productivity and profitability of chickpea under semi-arid conditions of Telangana.