Pulse · Fabaceae (pea family)
Chana · चना · Cicer arietinum
Protein-rich pulse that feeds the soil with its own nitrogen.
Chickpea is India's most important pulse and grows well on stored soil moisture with little irrigation. Its roots host Rhizobium bacteria that fix nitrogen from the air, so it leaves the field richer for the next crop. Desi (small, brown) and kabuli (bold, white) types are both grown.
Pod formation and filling · roots shown through the soil
At a glance
Likes cool, dry winters. Frost at flowering kills flowers; cloudy, wet weather at flowering brings grey mould; heat in March forces early maturity.
Sowing time
15 Oct – 10 Nov
Harvest
20 Mar – 20 Apr
130–155 days from sowing
Temperature
18–26 °C to grow
20–25 °C at sowing
Soil
Well-drained sandy loam to loam; kabuli types prefer slightly heavier, fertile soils
pH 6–8
Seed rate
24–40 kg/acre
60–100 kg/ha
Spacing
30 × 10 cm
7–10 cm deep
Irrigations
1–2
2 critical stages
Yield
7.3–10 q/acre
18–25 q/ha
Season
Does not tolerate waterlogging or salinity. Very fine, cloddy-free seedbeds are not needed — a slightly rough seedbed suits chana.
Seed to harvest
Scroll through the season. The plant in the glass tank grows to each stage — roots and all — and every card says what the crop is doing and what you should do in the field that week.
Stage 1 of 7
Sowing
Day 0–5
Seed absorbs moisture and swells deep in the soil.
Your job · Sow treated and Rhizobium-coated seed 7–10 cm deep in moist soil.
The root goes straight down while the shoot pushes up; the two halves of the seed stay underground.
Your job · Check for even emergence; watch for cutworm damage.
Feathery leaves with small leaflets open. Pink nodules form on roots — that's nitrogen fixation starting.
Your job · First hoeing at about 25 days. Dig up a plant to check for pink nodules.
Many branches spread out from the base, making a bushy plant.
Your job · Nip the top buds at 30–40 days. Second hoeing at 45 days. Light irrigation if the soil is dry.
Small white or pink-purple flowers open along the branches.
Your job · Set up pheromone traps and bird perches. Avoid irrigation in cloudy, humid weather.
Puffy pods form and fill with one or two seeds each.
Your job · Scout for pod borer twice a week and spray only when needed. Light irrigation at pod formation if dry.
Leaves turn reddish-brown and fall; pods dry and seeds rattle inside.
Your job · Harvest when most pods are dry.
The seed
Use certified seed of a variety bred for your region, at the right rate, and treat it before sowing.
One seed
≈ 8 mm
Seed rate
24–40 kg/acre
60–100 kg/ha
1000-seed weight
—
Field & sowing
Line sowing with a seed drill or behind the plough (pora)
Layout
Flat beds
Row to row
30 cm
Plant to plant
10 cm
Depth
7–10 cm
Feeding the crop
These are the standard doses for a medium-fertility field. Your Soil Health Card can raise or lower them — test first, then feed.
Nutrient dose
Plus 5 t/ha (2 t/acre) of well-rotted farmyard manure or compost.
For 1 acre of Chickpea
What to buy
Urea
3.8
kg
DAP
0.5
bags · 35 kg
MOP
0.5
bags · 13 kg
Nutrients in it: N 8.1 kg · P₂O₅ 16 kg · K₂O 8.1 kg
Also add farmyard manure or compost: 2 t
Not yet checked against a package of practices. Confirm the dose with your KVK before you buy.
Urea has 46 % N; DAP 18 % N and 46 % P₂O₅; MOP 60 % K₂O. Urea comes in 45 kg bags, DAP and MOP in 50 kg.
Water
A crop forgives a late irrigation at some stages and punishes it at others. These are the days that decide yield.
Protection
Walk the field every week. Most problems are cheap to stop early and expensive to fix late. For any spray, follow the label dose and check with your KVK.
Signs · Green or brown caterpillars eat leaves and bore round holes in pods, eating the seed inside.
Manage · Install pheromone traps and bird perches (T-shaped sticks) in the field. Spray HaNPV or a recommended insecticide such as emamectin benzoate or indoxacarb when you find about one larva per metre of row, as per label / your KVK.
Signs · Plants droop, turn yellow and dry up in patches; the inside of the root shows dark discolouration.
Manage · Grow wilt-tolerant varieties, treat seed with fungicide and Trichoderma, avoid very early sowing in hot soil and rotate with cereals.
Signs · In cloudy, humid weather at flowering, flowers and pods rot under a grey fuzzy growth.
Manage · Use wider rows, avoid excess irrigation and dense growth. Spray a recommended fungicide when the weather turns humid, as per label / your KVK.
Signs · Brown spots with dark rings on leaves, stems and pods; stems break. Common in sub-mountain Punjab and Haryana in wet winters.
Manage · Use resistant varieties and healthy treated seed; remove infected crop residue. Spray a recommended fungicide at first sign, as per label / your KVK.
Signs · Young plants are cut at ground level at night.
Manage · Plough deep in summer and keep field bunds clean; treat only patches where damage starts, as per label / your KVK.
Signs · On rich, well-irrigated soils plants become tall and leafy with few pods.
Manage · Avoid extra nitrogen and heavy irrigation. Nip the top buds at 30–40 days to encourage branching.
Common · Bathua, krishna neel, senji, chatri matri, pyazi (in Rajasthan)
Harvest
A good crop gives
7.3–10q/acre
18–25 quintal per hectare
Dry stalks and pod husk make useful cattle feed.