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17. Ascochyta blight is one of several important diseases. Attempts should be
intensified to combine resistance to blight with resistance to other important
diseases, pests, and parasitic weeds.
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18. It isnoted with appreciation that ICRISAT will appoint a fulltime pathologist
to work on chickpea diseases. It is hoped that this appointment will be
made in the near future.
Winter Sowing
1. Agronomy trials are needed over a wide area involving different agro-climatic
situation. Special emphasis should be placed on studying the effect of
planting date on the yield, yield stability, weed problem and symbiotic
nitrogen fixation.
2. More research is needed on fertilizer responses which should be evaluated in
relation to soil fertility and economic advantage.
3. Weed control research for identifying herbicides for both grassy and broad.
leaf weeds is needed.
4. Crop rotation research is needed to understand the potential role of chickpeas
in comparison to other crops, particularly lentil.
5. In addition to blight resistance, winter sowing requires cultivars with cold
and frost tolerance. Other aspects of physiological adaptation should also
receive attention in breeding genotypes for winter planting.
6. Greater effort is needed to monitor pests and diseases other than ascochyta
blight and assess their economic importance before research effort is
expanded.
7. Macroeconomic research on supply and demand relations should be
conducted.
On-Farm Trials
An important step should be made as soon as possible to move research onto
farmers' fields. The timing of this step will vary across the region although some
national programs are ready for this step now. The research should be simple,