Growing chickpea
Cicer arietinum · also called ChanaA winter pulse sown after the rains on light, well drained soil. It needs little water, fixes its own nitrogen and dislikes frost, heavy rain and wet feet.
Deccan plateau: interior Maharashtra, Telangana, north Karnataka
At a glance
Chickpea in the Deccan plateau
Rabi: rainfed crops sown late September to early October, irrigated ones late October to early November5
Vijay, Digvijay, Phule Vikram and Vikas take about 105 to 110 days. Vishwas takes 115 to 120 days and Phule Vishwaraj 95 to 105 days.5
20 September to 10 October5
Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.
Across India
When to sow it
Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.
Sow now
The window here is 20 October to 10 November.
- Sow
- Harvest
- Today
- Not suited here
Compare all 12 regionsShow fewer regions
See the dates as a table
| Region | Sow | Nursery | Transplant | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deccan plateau | 20 September to 10 October20 October to 10 NovemberFirst week of December | January to February | ||
| Temperate Himalaya | Not suited here | |||
| Cold desert | Not suited here | |||
| Sub-tropical foothills | Mid to end of October | Late March to April | ||
| North-west plains | 10 to 25 October25 October to 10 November | April | ||
| Gangetic plains | Late October to November | March to early April | ||
| North-east hills and valleys | Late October to November | Late February to March | ||
| Arid west | October to early November | Late February to March | ||
| Central plateau | Late October to November | Late February to March | ||
| South interior | November | February | ||
| West coast | Not suited here | |||
| East coast | November | February | ||
From seed to harvest
One season, day by day
Days from sowing
Day 0
Sow
at sowing
Farmyard manure
5 tonnes per hectare
Apply at sowing on medium deep soils
just before sowing
Rhizobium culture
Coat the seed and dry it in the shade before sowing (AI suggestion)
6Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.
Day 0
Sow
Farmyard manure
5 tonnes per hectare · Apply at sowing on medium deep soils
Rhizobium culture6Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.
Coat the seed and dry it in the shade before sowing (AI suggestion)
Day 5 to 10
Seeds come up1,2,3Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.
Day 105 to 110
Last picking5
Mostly rainfed on stored moisture in black soil. With water, irrigate lightly at flowering and pod filling.No published guide covers this for the Deccan plateau, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
What it needs
Soil, sun and warmth
Soil pH1,2,5Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.
6 to 8
Well drained, light to medium textured soil; MPKV asks for medium to deep soil, 45 to 60 cm deep. Saline, alkaline and waterlogged soils do not suit it. It needs no fine tilth, but loose, airy soil cuts wilt and raises the yield.
SunlightNo published guide covers this for the Deccan plateau, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
At least 6 hours a day
Full sun. An open field with no shade from taller crops or trees.
Temperature1,2,5Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.
Grows best at 15 to 25 °C
Frost: none tolerated.
Monthly temperatures for the Deccan plateau aren't in the library yet.
Water and feeding
WateringNo published guide covers this for the Deccan plateau, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Mostly rainfed on stored moisture in black soil. With water, irrigate lightly at flowering and pod filling.
WeedingNo published guide covers this for the Deccan plateau, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Hoe or hand weed once or twice in the first six weeks.
| When | What | How much | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| at sowing | Farmyard manure | 5 tonnes per hectare | Apply at sowing on medium deep soils |
| just before sowing | Rhizobium culture | Coat the seed and dry it in the shade before sowing (AI suggestion) |
Varieties and yield
10 to 20 quintals a hectare
Yields vary with the plot, the seed and the season.
Vijay
Desi; wilt resistant, drought tolerant; rainfed, irrigated and late sown; 105 to 110 days
Digvijay
Desi, bold seed; wilt resistant; rainfed, irrigated and late sown
Phule Vikram
Desi; tall, suits machine harvest; wilt resistant; rainfed, irrigated and late sown
Phule Vishwaraj
Desi; rainfed; resistant to Fusarium wilt
Phule Vikrant (Phule G 0405)
Desi; irrigated; wilt resistant
Vishal
Desi, bold seed; wilt resistant; irrigated
Virat
Kabuli, extra bold seed; wilt resistant
Kripa
Kabuli, extra large milky white seed; irrigated
Organic and cultural controls only.
Gram pod borer
Signs
Caterpillars bore into pods and eat the seed.
What to do
- Bird perches, 20 a hectare, removed at harvest
- Intercrop with linseed, mustard, coriander or rabi sorghum
- Marigold on the border as a trap crop
- Pheromone traps to watch moth numbers
White grub
Signs
Grubs in the soil eat the roots, so plants wilt and die in patches.
Prevention
- Plough deep after harvest
Root-knot nematode
Signs
Roots carry small knots or galls; plants are stunted and yellow.
What to do
- Neem cake 1 q and Trichoderma viride 2.5 kg per hectare, applied to the soil at sowing
Wilt and dry root rot
What to do
- Grow tolerant varieties
- Rotate with crops that are not legumes
- Where these diseases are bad, keep chickpea off the field for at least three years
- Mix Trichoderma, 5 kg per hectare multiplied on 100 kg of decomposed farmyard manure, into moist soil
Seed and the season's end
Saving seed1,2Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.
Keep seed from a healthy, true to type plot. Leave out plants that wilted or carried blight.
When the seed is ready
Pods turn straw coloured and the plants dry up. The seed rattles in the pod.
Cleaning the seed
Cut the plants, dry them in the sun, then thresh and clean the seed.
Dry the seed well and store it in sealed bins or bags in a cool, dry place, away from storage beetles.
After the last picking4
Plough deep right after harvest and destroy the stubble.
Cut the plants 4 to 5 cm above the ground with a sickle; do not uproot them, so the roots stay in the soil. Destroy diseased plants and stubble after harvest, and plough deep soon after.
Rotation
Rotate with cereals to check soil-borne diseases: sorghum or bajra then gram, rice or maize then gram, or rice, gram and summer moong. Where wilt or dry root rot is bad, keep chickpea off that field for at least three years.
Sources
Where this comes from
Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Reviewed by our team on 13 November 2026.
These published guides are the sources. Where none of them covers a detail for this region, the page shows an AI suggestion and labels it.
- Agriculture: Pulses: Bengal gramTNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Integrated Pest Management Package for ChickpeaDirectorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage, Ministry of Agriculture, with the National Centre for Integrated Pest Management (ICAR) and NIPHMRead the source
- Information about crop-wise improved varieties developed by the university: Pulses (chickpea variety sheets)Pulses Improvement Project, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth (MPKV), RahuriRead the source
- Chickpea: recommendations released in the last 10 yearsMahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth (MPKV), RahuriRead the source
- Bengalgram Outlook Report 2025-26Agricultural Market Intelligence Centre, Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU)Read the source
AI Farm Manager · In development
Plan this crop on your land
AI Farm Manager will turn guides like this one into a plan for your own plot. It doesn't make plans yet.