Techniques of weed management in chickpea – A review

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is one of the most important pulse legumes in many parts of the world. India is largest producer of chickpea in the world, sharing 65 and 70% of the total global area and production, respectively. However productivity of chickpea in India is quite low. Out of several factors responsible for low productivity losses caused due to weeds is one of the most important which averaged out to be 30–54%. Different weed control practices such as crop architecture, use of appropriate cultivars and use of herbicides were followed for better management. Differences in weed suppression among crops at cultivars have long been established. Cultivars for sustainable system should be both high yielding and competitive against weeds. Application of herbicide at critical growth stages followed by one or two hand weeding at proper time or manipulation of row spacing for improving the weed suppressing effect of crops gives marginal improvement in crop yield.