Weed management
Kabuli chickpea competes poorly with weeds, particularly broad-leaved weeds such as radish, mustard, capeweed and doublegee. Selecting paddocks with a low broad-leaved weed burden in the previous season and pre-emergence weed management are essential for a successful crop. Do not sow chickpea into a pasture paddock. Herbicides registered (2019) for weed control in chickpea are shown in the tables below. Minor use registration for other herbicides may be current and these can be checked on the Pulse Australia website. Contact DPIRD or your local consultant for up-to-date information on herbicide registrations.
| Herbicide | Rate | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Cyanazine (Bladex®) | 2L/ha | Pre-sowing. Most grasses and broad-leaved weeds. May suppress rather than kill |
| Simazine 50% flowable | 1–2L/ha | Pre-sowing or post-sowing pre-emergent. Most grasses and broadleaf weeds |
| Herbicide | Rate | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Pendimethalin (Stomp®) | 2L/ha | Annual ryegrass and wireweed and suppression of silvergrass and wild oat |
| Triallate (for example, Avadex®) | 1.6L/ha | Immediately before sowing. Wild oat |
| Trifluralin (400ai/L) | 1–2L/ha | Wire-weed, fumitory and annual ryegrass. Suppression of wild oat and brome grass |
| Herbicide | Rate | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Isoxaflutole (Balance®) | 100g/ha | Post-sowing pre-emergent. Mustard, radish and capeweed |
| Simazine 50% flowable | 1–2L/ha | Most grasses and broadleaf weeds |
| Metribuzin (Lexone®) | 150–300g/ha | Most grasses, brassicas, capeweed, doublegee, fumitory, toadrush, wireweed. Use lower rates on coarser textured soil types. Results from 2005 suggest that lower rates need to be used for Almaz. Check rates – products vary in ai concentration. |
| Terbuthylazine (Terbyne Extreem) | 0.6-1.2 kg/ha | Most broadleaf weeds, suppresses annual ryegrass. Lower rates on sandy soils. |
Table 4 Registered herbicides for use with kabuli chickpea crops, post-emergent (2019)
Herbicide Rate Comments Flumetsulam (Broadstrike®) 25g/ha Apply at the 4-6 leaf stage. Capeweed, doublegee, brassicas (suppression only) Pyridate (Tough®) 2L/ha Capeweed, fumitory Fusion®, Select®, Motsa®, Fusilade®, Verdict®, Correct®, Shogun®, Targa®, Aramo®, Sertin® — A range of grass selective herbicides are available. Refer to label for useInsects
Chickpeas are less susceptible to redlegged earth mite, lucerne flea and aphids than other pulses. The crop is susceptible to damage by native budworm after flowering until pod fill. The crop will need to be sprayed with an appropriate insecticide if caterpillars are present and pods have started to form. Regular monitoring using a sweep net will help determine whether the crop needs to be sprayed. An insecticide application will be necessary if one caterpillar is found in 10 sweeps of the crop. Sweeps should be made while walking through the paddock and consist of a standard sweep of around two metres, sampling the top 15cm of the crop canopy. Synthetic pyrethroids are most effective for native budworm control and will prevent reinfestation for up to six weeks after application.
Disease management
The most significant fungal disease of chickpea in WA is ascochyta blight. The diseases Botrytis grey mould (BGM; Botrytis cinerea) and sclerotinia white mould (Sclerotinia sclerotorium and S. minor) were major diseases of chickpea in WA prior to the incursion of ascochyta blight and may again become significant diseases in chickpea varieties resistant to ascochyta blight. The recommended practices to manage ascochyta blight are consistent with management practices required to minimise the risk from BGM and white mould.
Paddock selection
Keep at least a three year break between chickpea crops in the same paddock. Equally importantly, sow new chickpea crops at least 500m from any paddock (yours or your neighbours) in which chickpea was grown in the previous season. Ascochyta spores from infected chickpea stubble from the previous season are released in mid-winter and can be blown hundreds of metres, or even kilometres. Small pieces of infected chickpea trash (leaf, pod and stem) may be blown considerable distances during harvest and may also be moved about by winds throughout the summer and autumn. It is important to consider the risks from wind-blown trash prior to the break of the season and wind-borne spores after crop emergence when selecting paddocks to sow to chickpea.
Seed
Test your seed for germination and ascochyta blight infection. Do not sow seed if the ascochyta infection level is above 0.25%. All kabuli seed should be treated with a fungicide seed dressing; this will reduce the transmission of seed-borne fungal infections and also help to protect the emerging seedling from soil-borne pathogens and seedling rots. Seed testing and seed dressing are complementary: seed testing ensures that seed with an unacceptably high level of infection is not being sown while seed dressing reduces, but does not eliminate, seed-borne infection. Seed dressing highly infected seed reduces the level of transmission, but may still result in high levels of initial infection of the emerged crop.
Fungicide timing
Where crops have been established following the above recommendations, growers should budget for two or three strategic fungicide sprays. Registered fungicides include (chlorothalonil 720g/L applied at 1.0-2.0L/ha), Veritas (Tebucolazole 200g/L, Azoxystrobin 120g/L applied at 0.75-1.0 L/ha and Aviator Xpro (Prothioconazole 150g/L, Bixafen 75g/L applied at 0.4 to 0.6 L/ha.
A fungicide spray is required four weeks after emergence . This early prophylactic spray is required to contain the spread from any ascochyta blight infections resulting from wind blown spores from last year’s stubble, seed-borne infections or infected trash that has been carried into the paddock. The level of infection that requires application of a fungicide spray this early in the crop’s life is very low and is below the level that can be reliably identified, even by a person who has considerable experience in identifying this disease in field crops. Additionally, application of an early spray will protect the crop against wind-borne spores released from chickpea stubble during the two to three weeks following the spray application.
A second spray is recommended at full flowering to protect the developing pods and minimise the risk of reduced quality. The rate of fungicide application depends on the level of ascochyta blight infection detected in the crop prior to spraying. A high rate would be appropriate where ascochyta blight can be easily identified in the crop and the low rate where only minor disease infection is evident after close inspection. If ascochyta blight is not identified, even after close inspection of more than ten locations throughout the crop, a fungicide application may not be required at this time. A fungicide spray may be required during pod filling if ascochyta blight becomes evident in the canopy during late flowering or podding.
Plant Breeders Rights and seed availability
Almaz and Nafice are protected by Plant Breeders Rights. Unauthorised commercial propagation or any sale, conditioning, export, import or stocking of propagating material of this variety is an infringement under the Plant Breeders Rights Act 1994.
Growers are allowed to retain seed from production of this variety for their own use as seed only. An End Point Levy applies to Almaz and Nafice. Seed is available from Council of Grain Growers Organisation Ltd (COGGO) Seeds in WA and Seednet in eastern Australia.
Acknowledgments
Information on this page was developed from the results of research partially funded by Grains Research and Development Corporation, COGGO, DPIRD and the Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture. Dr Harmohinder Dhammu provided advice on registered herbicides.