Participatory varietal selection of chickpea in rainfed rice fallow lands of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh in India for sustainable crop production

Production and area of chickpea are reducing every year in India due to competition with horticulture and other cash crops in irrigated areas. There is a great scope for expanding chickpea production with or without limited irrigation in rainfed rice fallow lands (RRFL) in the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Nineteen chickpea genotypes were tested using participatory varietal selection (PVS) trials on farmers’ fields in each of the four districts of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Among the several traits of the introduced chickpea varieties, grain yield was the most preferred trait by farmers, followed by resistance to diseases and early maturity. Selection of chickpea genotypes varied over time and location depending on agronomic and climatic pressures, indicating a preference by farmers for growing multiple, improved varieties. Yield potential of PVS genotypes averaged up to 50% greater than the local cultivar. Farmers’ participation in the selection process of genotypes laid the foundation of better and sustainable yields of chickpea and thereby providing better economic returns suitable to small farmers of RRFL of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. The results of this study can be replicated in the similar environments in Asia and Africa

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Not AvailableCotton plays a key role in the national economy in terms employment and income genera-tion in the agricultural and industrial sectors. It is an important cash crop in the Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh, a part of the central zone (Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat), occupying more than 67.23% of the total area and contributes around 62.11% to the total production and is characterized by rampant proliferation of hybrids. Bt technology has been extensively adopted in this region. Increas-ing trend has been observed in the area, from 11.78 ha in 2004-05 to 18.54 ha in 2011-12 and production of 16.00 lakh bales to 17.0 lakh bales. However, produc- tivity has been declined from 472 kg cotton lint/ha in 2004-05 to 426 kg cotton lint/ha in 2011-12. This af-fects the farmers’ returns from the cotton cultivation. Though IPM has been developed long back but its field application and adoption rate was low with the cotton farmers. After studying the cotton pest man-agement constraints, large-scale contagious cotton growing tract was selected for the IPM demonstration and implemented in the selected districts of Madhya Pradesh. Frontline demonstrations were planned and implemented mainly to diffuse and influence the practices of IPM technology on yield, costof plant protection and frequency of pesticides sprays has been developer. The present study is an attempt to investigate the cotton IPM technology effective in yield enhancement vis-à-vis reduction of the cost and pesticide application both in Bt and non-Bt cotton in the Madhya Pradesh.Not Availabl