Chickpea is an important Rabi pulse crop of India. Chickpea stunt disease (CpSd) incited by bean (pea) leaf roll virus and transmitted by aphid is an important disease of chickpea. Diseased plants are easily spotted in the field by their yellow, orange or brown discoloration, shortened internodes and stunted growth. In India, yield loss by chickpeas stunt is 80-95 per cent. In Bihar, chickpea stunt disease is an economical and emerging problem in cultivation of chickpea. An experiment was conducted to identify suitable date of sowing with least incidence of chickpea stunt disease. CpSd adversely affected both plant height and yield in all test seven varieties in three different date of sowing. Effect of different dates of sowing on CpSd incidence was found maximum during early sowing (1st November) followed by mid sowing (15th November) and late sowing (30th November). The response of stunt disease against test seven cultivars in all three dates of sowing was assessed. Observations of plant height and yield per plant of both healthy and diseased plant were taken into consideration. Maximum reduction of plant height was recorded in early date of sowing in variety JG315 and minimum in GCP105 whereas other varieties showed intermediate reduction. Similarly maximum yield reduction in early sown was recorded in JG315 followed by BG256 and minimum in GCP 105. During mid date of sowing maximum reduction of yield was observed in JG315 and minimum in GCP105. Similarly maximum yield reduction was found in variety JG315 and minimum in GCP105. Incidence of chickpea stunt was recorded maximum in early sown followed by mid sown and minimum in late sown condition of chickpea. Among varieties minimum stunt disease incidence was observed in GCP105 and maximum in JG315. Chickpea stunt disease was found minimum in variety GCP105 during late sown crop condition.

chickpea, yield, yield attributes, stunt disease

Stunt disease of chickpea had adversely affected the yield traits and yield. It showed variable reaction during different dates of sowing on different cultivars. Minimum disease was noticed during late sown crop conditions followed by mid sown and maximum in late sown crop. Among test cultivar highest reduction in plant height and yield was observed in variety JG315 and lowest in GCP105 in all three different dates of sowing.

Saurav Kumar and Ramesh Nath Gupta (2019). Effect of Chickpea Stunt Disease on Yield Attributing Trait and Yield of chickpea. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 11(2): 192-195.