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A field experiment was conducted during rabi 2014-15 at Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra, UAS, Bangalore to study the effect of depth and interval of drip irrigation on growth and yield of chickpea in red sandy clay loam soil. The experiment consisted of twelve treatments which were replicated thrice in RCBD with factorial concept. The experiment consisted of two factors viz., irrigation depths; 40 per cent (D₁), 60 per cent (D₂), 80 per cent (D₃) and100 per cent pan evaporation (D₄). Irrigation intervals; 3 days (I1) 5 days (I2) and 7 days interval (I3). The investigation revealed that scheduling of drip irrigation at 100 per cent pan evaporation recorded significantly higher seed yield (1780 kg ha^-1) which was on par with drip irrigation scheduled at 80 per cent pan evaporation (1723 kg ha^-1). Among the drip irrigation intervals, drip irrigation scheduled at 7 days interval recoded significantly higher seed yield (1671 kg ha^-1) which was on par with 5 days interval (1593 kg ha^-1). It was also observed that yield attributes (pods plant-1, pod weight plant-1, 100 seed weight and haulm yield) was also significantly higher in this treatment. Significantly higher water use efficiency was recorded in drip irrigation scheduled at 40 per cent pan evaporation (72.14 kg ha-cm-1) and at 7 days interval (63.35 kg ha-cm^-1). Drip irrigation scheduled at 100 per cent and 80 per cent pan evaporation recorded higher gross returns (68,836 ha^-1 and 66,618 ha^-1 respectively), net returns (31,793 ha-1 and 29,975 ha^-1 respectively) and B: C (1.86 and 1.82 respectively) compared to drip irrigation scheduled at 40 per cent pan evaporation. Irrigation scheduled at 7 days interval recorded higher gross returns (64,654 ha^-1), net returns (29,399 ha^-1) and B: C (1.83) ratio compared to drip irrigation scheduled at 3 days interval.
Key words: Chickpea, Depth, Interval, Drip irrigation, water use efficiency, Yield, Economics