Disease management

Irrespective of the way it is raised gram is always grown as a cold weather (rabi) crop mixed with sorghum, wheat, barley, linseed, mustard or pea.

Gram blight This is caused by Mycosphaerella racici Kovichevski.
	Brown spots appear all over the plant mostly in January and February.
	High humidity due to rains together with low temperature favour the development of this blight.
Cultural practices:
	Burning and burrying of the diseased parts of plants, and adoption of suitable rotations using disease-free seed.
	The blight resistant varieties like F-8, bred in the Punjab, escape this disease.
	This is not a serious disease in Andhra Pradesh.
Grey Mould Rot
	It is caused by a fungus Botrytis cineria Pers. ex Fr.
	The disease appears on all parts of the plant except root system. Grey or dark brown lesions covered with erect hairy sporophores appear on these lesions.
	The lesions are about 10-30 mm long and girdle the stem soon.
	Tender branches break at the points where the grey mould causes soft rotting of the tissues.
	On thick stem direct grey or black mass containing dark green to black sporodoctia.
Control:
	Close planting should be avoided.
	Excessive moisture should be avoided.
	The crop may be sprayed with captan 5-6 kg/ha, repeat spray after 15 days interval.
Rust
	This is caused by Uromyces ciceris arientini
	The strains I.P. 6, 10, 11, 39, 40, 41, 57, 59, and 60 of Cicer are known to be resistant to rust.
	In Terai areas of the Nainital district, this disease often assumes a serious proportion, particularly with cloudy weather.
	However, the plant becomes heavily rusted after pod formation, hence, the damage is not generally very serious.
	The use of early maturing, resistant varieties is the best solution to the problem.
	Occasionally Opercullets padwickii and Sclerotium rolfii have also been isolated from Shahjahanpur and Barabanki.
	Opercullets padwickii has been reported to cause serious root rot in gram in Madhya Pradesh, but these fungi appear to be less important in Uttar Pradesh.
	This is not a serious disease in AP.

Gram wilt This disease causes withering of plants, resulting in their partial or complete death. The roots turn brown inside.
	This disease occurred with high temperatures and that late sowing accompanied by a fall in temperature reduced the incidence of wilt.
	Sowing of this crop before 15th of October reduced the severity of the disease.
	High temperature during sowing and flowering, deficient soil moisture and bad soil condition were the main causes of wilting.
	Early wilt occurred about 10 to 15 days after sowing and that late wilting was observed at flowering to pod formation.
	The following cultural operations were recommended for controlling the wilt
	1.	Loosening the sub-soil during the monsoon to retain all available moisture in the soil.
	2.	Ploughing 6-7 inches with a turn-rest plough and levelling the land.
	3.	Sowing by the 'Pora' method.
	4.	Sowing between the second and third week of October.
	5.	Irrigation during November-December, but not in February and March.
	Growing resistant varieties can, however, be said to be the best and sure preventive measures against the disease which is caused by Fusarium.
	An unusual wilting of gram plants was also seen in the heavy soils of South Bihar, causing 5 to 10 per cent mortality of plants.
	The plants did not branch properly, appeared sickly and died slowly.
	The hyphal strands were observed to creep up the stems of the infected plants to cause brownish streaks.
	A few cinnamon-brown sclerotia were found on the basal portion of the infected stems.
	The fungus was identified as Ozunium texanum, probably identical with the var. parasiticum thirumalachar.
	The common wilt, a soil-borne disease, caused by Fusarium orithoceras App. et. Wr var. ciceri Padwick is very serious in the Punjab, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madras and parts of the Mysore and Maharashtra states.
	ICCV - 2 (swetha) and ICCC - 37 (Kranthi) are tolerant to thin disease.