author(s)
Nuru Seid Tehulie and Kemila Mohammed Yimam

abstract
One of the main reasons of low yield of C. arietinum is improper plant population. Either too low or high Plant population beyond a certain limit often adversely affects the crop yield. Number of plants per unit area influences plant size, yield components and ultimately the seed yield. The use of high plant density in chickpea production decreases soil water evaporation early in the growing season when plant canopy closure is low. In contrast, low plant density may allow weeds to develop more aggressively and limit crop yield potential. Plants grown at lower plant density are usually shorter and branchy, which increases losses during combine harvest. Moreover, plant spacing in the field is also very important to facilitate aeration and light penetration in to plant canopy for optimizing the rate of photosynthesis. There is very little information available on the relative contribution of various plant spacing towards yield and yield components and also their interaction. Plant population is a key component of the productivity of chickpea. The yield of chickpea can be improved by planting of optimum density of chickpea cultivars. Optimum density is one of the factors that have effect on yield, but there are some studies that have shown that density does not have a significant effect on yield of cicer and some studies have shown that density have a significant effect on yield of chickpea. Many reports showed us row spacing of 45 cm increased chickpea yield compared to 30 and 50 cm.