Integrated crop management of chickpea in environments of Bangladesh prone to Botrytis grey mould

Botrytis grey mould (BGM) is the major constraint to chickpea production in Bangladesh and is considered primarily responsible for that country's recent drastic decrease in chickpea production. There is no substantial host plant resistance to BGM in current chickpea cultivars, but component studies have developed various agronomic options to manage the disease. These include reduced seed rate, delayed sowing and thinning of plants to ensure an open canopy, and need-based foliar application of fungicide. These components were combined with other agronomic requirements for the target region, such as application of phosphate fertilizer, pest management measures against chickpea pod borer, and fungicidal seed treatment against collar rot. The resultant integrated crop management (ICM) package was compared with normal farmer practice (FP) for chickpea cultivation in farmer-managed, operational scale plots at 100 locations across five districts in western Bangladesh in the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 seasons. Grain yields in ICM plots were generally 15-50% higher than in FP in both seasons. Conduct of these on-farm evaluations in two additional districts in 2004-2005 gave similar results. In 2004-2005, 505 farmer-managed demonstrations were conducted in the five original districts, giving a 5-104% yield advantage (district means) of ICM over FP. In 2005-2006, 642 demonstrations were conducted across the eight districts giving district-wise yield advantages of 27-70%. Effective implementation of BGM management practices by Participating farmers demonstrated that remunerative and reliable chickpea yields could be obtained in this BGM-prone environment. The ICM strategy evolved has relevance to other chickpea growing regions prone to BGM in South Asia, Australia and the Americas. Studies are now required on the adoption of components of the ICM package, and the underlying reasons, to identify any adoption constraints and thus guide further promotion of chickpea cultivation. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.