Dr. Phyto

chickpea

Cicer arietinum

Diseases & pests on this plant

• Ascochyta blight of chickpeaAscochyta rabiei

  Brown lesions with dark concentric rings on leaves, stems, and pods (very diagnostic), stem girdling causing whole-plant collapse, severely infected pods produce shrivelled + discoloured seed, in epidemic years entire fields can be killed within 2-3 weeks.

• cotton bollworm / pod borerHelicoverpa armigera

  Green-to-brown caterpillars (up to 4cm) chewing holes in pods + flowers, dark frass + hollowed-out pods with single circular exit hole, daytime hiding in soil + nocturnal feeding, severe infestations destroy 30-80% of pod crop, multiple overlapping generations mean continuous pressure June-October.

• Fusarium wilt of chickpeaFusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceris

  Sudden wilting + yellowing of mature plants during pod fill, vascular tissue blackened when stem is sliced (very diagnostic), plants collapse and dry up while pods are still green, patches in field spread along irrigation lines or wet rows, soil remains infectious for 6+ years.