An experiment to study the growing pattern of a chickpea variety, IAC-Marrocos, was carried out at the Monte Alegre Experimental Station, SP, during 1987 and 1988. The dry matter production of all parts of the plant, as well the leaf area index, were weekly evaluated. Exponential quadratic models of regression were adjusted to total dry matter, leaf dry matter and leaf area index, and a linear model to dry matter of grain. Based on the growth analysis it was concluded that the chickpea is a rustic eatable plant that can be recommended as an alternative winter crop for similar climatic conditions as those of the experiment.
chickpea; growing indexes; yield
