Chickpea harvest can often clash with wheat harvest and traditionally wheat has been given priority due to potential quality premiums. However, this needs to be balanced with the relatively higher value of chickpea and potential losses that can result from a late chickpea harvest. Chickpea yields average approximately 70% of wheat yields when sown in an identical situation.
The use of specialised headers and separate storage facilities for chickpeas may alleviate the competition with wheat for time, labour and equipment usage. Harvest timing will depend on the moisture content that is acceptable for delivery or storage. This will depend on who is buying the grain, or whether aeration is available in the storage. A general rule is that harvest should be under way when upper pods are 15% moisture, if aiming to deliver at 13-14%.
Receival standards for chickpeas have recently been revised, with the maximum moisture now increased to 14% for grower receivals. Harvesting grain at 13-15% moisture content will help minimise cracking. Above 14% moisture, the crop should either be aerated or dried. Aeration is usually very effective in pulling chickpea moisture content down several percentage points.
Planning for an early harvest
Chickpea plants are indeterminate and the period of flowering can extend anywhere from 20 to 50 days depending on levels of flower abortion and the impact of moisture stress on the plant. Early or timely harvest of the chickpea crop has the potential to increase returns by up to 50%. Management to ensure timely harvest consists of a combination of strategies.
Paddock selection and agronomy
Planning before and during sowing can reduce many harvest difficulties. Paddock selection will determine the risk of disease, waterlogging, weeds and poor establishment, ultimately influencing crop maturity. Sowing method and row spacing will affect evenness, crop height and lodging potential. All of these factors can affect the ease and timeliness of harvest.
Fungicide treatment in chickpea
Disease and insect control
Botrytis grey mould can be a common disease at flowering, particularly in crops that have canopied over. Botrytis causes flower and pod abortion extending the growing period and delaying maturity by up to six weeks. Crops need to be monitored closely at flowering. Ascochyta blight, if not controlled during grain filling, can lead to high levels of lesions on the seed, resulting in downgrading and marketing difficulties. Heliothis may cause delays to harvest by attacking pods and extending the flowering period when the plant compensates for the lost pods (this is unlikely to be a problem under normal conditions where good insect control is practised..
Desiccation
Desiccating a crop overcomes problems with green weeds at harvest and improves harvest efficiency by eliminating many of the problems associated with green stems and gum build-up, such as uneven feeding and drum chokes. Minimising these problems enables drum speeds to be reduced in many cases, with a reduction in cracked or damaged grain. It allows harvesting of a crop that will not naturally shut down due to high soil moisture, and stops chickpeas reshooting and reflowering after preharvest rain, and makes crops with uneven maturity more uniform, allowing earlier harvesting.
Timing of desiccation:
The optimal stage to desiccate the crop is when the vast majority of seeds have reached physiological maturity i.e. 90-95% of the crop. Our best guide at the present time is to base this on a visual inspection of the seeds within the upper 20% of pods on each main fruiting branch. Seeds are considered to be physiologically mature when the green seed colour begins to lighten, normally when the pod wall begins to yellow. For an easier determination and to avoid the need to inspect seeds, the current advice is to desiccate when 80-85% of pods within the crop have turned yellow- brown.
Effect of desiccants on immature seeds:
Desiccants should not be applied too early as they can affect green seeds. The result can be a reduction in grain size and yield, an increase in immature seeds, and a reduction in seed viability.
Registered desiccants
See also Chickpea - weed management for herbicides and tables
