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CHAPTER-1.

IMPACT, REVIEW AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDIES

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) belongs to family Fabacceae and sub family

Faboideae. The common names of chickpea world wide are, Bengal gram (Indian),

Chickpea (English), Chana (Urdu) in Pakistan, Garbanzo (Latin America), Hommes,

Hamaz (Arab world), Nohud, Lablabi (Turkey) and Shimbra (Ethiopia). It is a rich source

of unsaturated fatty acids (US Department of Agriculture 2007; Willium and Singh,

1986), resistant and starch (Willium Singh, 1986; Nestal et al., 2004; Guillon and Champ,

2002), dietary fiber (US Department of Agriculture, 2007), vitamins (Australian Grains

Research Development Corporation 2002), minerals (Petterson et al., 1997) and

phytoestrogens (Sharma, 1981; Siddique and Siddiqi, 1976). In Pakistan and India

chickpea is consumed locally, and about 56% of the crop is retained by growers (Duke,

1981). In Pakistan chickpea is planted in September and harvested in late April or early

May. Seeding rates vary from 25-40 kg ha-1 to 80-120 kg ha-1 depending on the area and

seed type (Smithson et al., 1985). Two types of chickpea are recognized, desi (colored,

small seeded, angular and fibrous) and kabuli (beige, large seeded, rams-head shaped

with lower fiber content) types (Malhotra et al., 1987).

The Chickpea yields in Pakistan are lower than the maximum potential yield

(1500-1800 kg ha-1) of the cultivars. One of the main reasons for this yield loss is weed

competition in addition to other production constraints. In Pakistan chickpea is

traditionally grown on residual soil moisture, hence, weed infestation poses major

problem due to competition for moisture. Common weed species of chickpea include

Asphodelus tenuifolius Cav., Chenopodium album L., Carthamus oxyacantha Beib.,

Cyperus rotundus L., Fumaria indica (Hausskn.) Pugsley, Polygonum aviculare L.,

Lathyrus aphaca L., Vicia sativa L., Cynodon dactylon L.and Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop.

(Mullen et al., 2000; Saxena and Yadav, 1976).

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Among the abiotic factors, drought is an important factor in chickpea growing regions

because the crop is grown on residual moisture and eventually exposed to terminal

drought (Johansen et al., 1994). In West Asia and North African countries, low

temperature causing freezing injury or death or delayed onset of podding reduces yield

tremendously (Singh, 1987). Heat and salinity problems are relatively important

following drought and cold stresses (Singh et al., 1994). Chickpea yields usually

averaged from 400-600 kg ha-1, but can surpass 2000 kg ha-1, and in the experiments

yield have been attained to as high as 5200 kg ha-1. Yields from irrigated crops are

20-28% higher than yields from rainfed crops.

In Pakistan, during 2006-07, chickpea was grown on an area of 1052.3 thousand

ha with a production of 837.8 thousand tons with an average yield of 796 kg ha-1. During

the same year, the area, production and yield kg ha -1in NWFP was 49.0 thousand ha, 21.0

thousand tons and 429, respectively. Punjab with an area of 910.7 thousand ha and

production of 728.3 thousand tons and yield at 800 kg ha-1 is the leader in chickpea

production in Pakistan (MINFAL, 2007).

Traditionally weeds are being controlled through hand weeding or by various

cultural practices. However, with the scarcity of manual labour and intensive crop

production, introduction of chemical weed control has been used to replace the

conventional control measures. Chemical weed control certainly has its merits.over the

existing methods of weed control. Still it is not as common as it could be practiced on

commercial scale. Potential yield losses in chickpea due to weeds range between 22-

100% (Saxena and Yadav, 1976). Whereas Singh (1998) and Sakhalin et al. (1999)

pointed out that weeds reduced productivity in chickpea by 36.8% and 41-44%,respectively.

Post emergence application of predate herbicide gave 97.5% weed control in

chickpea (Skrobakova, 1999). Bhalla et al., (1998) reported that herbicide treatment gave

50-64% weed control with increase in yield. Weed growth was significantly reduced by

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the use of herbicides and resulted in increased yield of 50% against the control (Stork,

1998)

Wild onion (A. tenuifolius Cav.) is a notorious weed of sandy soils of Indo-Pak

sub-continent (Mishra et al., 2006). It belongs to the Ashodelaceae sub family of the

Liliaceae and is a serious weed of 15 crops in 17 countries (Holm et al., 1997). It is

annual in habit. It has been observed as a serious weed of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.),

wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), mustard (Brassica juncea L. Czern. et Coss.), lentil (Lens

culinaris Medic.), and linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) (Gupta et al., 1977; Poonia et al.,

2001; Tiwari et al., 2001). The same weed was found most dangerous to the chickpea

growers in the sandy districts of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) viz. Karak, Lakki

Marwat and parts of Dera Ismail Khan Pakistan. In the Punjab Pakistan, it is the worst

competitor with rabi crops in Mianwali, Bhakkar, Jhang and Layyah and causes huge

losses to the chickpea crop in the sandy zone of Pakistan (Hassan, et al., 2004; Sultan and

Nasir, 2003).

Farmers must continuously deal with weed infestations in crops and their

importance is reflected in the amount of manual labor, tillage, and herbicides used to

control them (Eue, 1986). The advent of herbicides has been hailed as one of the most

important advances in agriculture (Pike,1991). Herbicides now comprise 2030% of

input costs in North American Cropping Systems (Derksen et al., 2002). Despite

widespread farmer adoption of herbicides, there is ever-increasing interest in reducing

herbicide doses and overall herbicide use.

A. tenuifolius is not relished by cattle, hence it cannot be fed to them by the family

labour, so manual weeding is very uncommon because farmers are very poor and theycannot afford the cost of labour. In some infested fields, the damage is about 100% and

farmers leave their fields unharvested. One wild onion plant produces thousands of seeds

which grow next year at the suitable time and the damage is continued to the crop

throughout the growing season.

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Based on the literature reviewed above, I conclude that A. tenuifolius is an

important weed that is not presently controlled effectively in chickpea. If we could reduce

the damage that A. tenuifolius causes in this crop, chickpea production could be more

productive and the economic return from this crop would increase for farmers. Therefore,

I conducted studies to better understand the biology ofA. tenuifolius, and do identify

appropriate chemical control methods. What follows is a description of these studies,

their results, and a summary of the conclusions and recommendations for farmers.

Keeping in view the importance of wild onion in chickpea crop, a project was

undertaken at the Department of Weed Science NWFP Agricultural University Peshawar

envisaging the following work.

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Experiment 1: Studies on Temperature Regimes and Dormancy Breaking

Chemicals Influencing Seed Germination of Chickpea and

A. tenuifolius (Cav.)

Experiment 2: Effect of Different Herbicides and their Doses at Various Growth

Stages ofA. tenuifolirius Grown in Pots.

Experiment 3: Tolerance of Chickpea Cultivars to Major Chickpea Herbicides

Experiment 4: Effect of Pre and Post Emergence Herbicides onA. tenuifolius in

Chickpea under Field Condition.

Experiment 5: Effect of Some Herbicides and their Doses at different Growth

Stages ofA. tenuifolius Under Field Conditions.

Overall objectives of the studies:

1. To acquire knowledge of the biology ofA. tenuifolius.

2. To formulate different control measures forA. tenuifolius in chickpea.

3. To quantify the tolerance of chickpea germplasm to herbicides.

4. To work on reduced herbicides doses for sustainable weed management.

5. To test the dormancy behaviour of biotypes ofA. tenuifolius with various

dormancy breaking chemicals.