172 INTRODUCTION Chickpea is one of the most important pulse crop and occupies a major position among pulses in Maharashtra state. Output of pulses was 17.06 MT during 2015-16 (Anonymous, 2017). Chickpea is an important rabi crop mainly sown in September- November and harvested in February. Crop duration is 90-120 d depending on the variety. It is best suited to areas having low to moderate rainfall and a mild cold weather. Indian government imports large quantity of pulses to fulill domestic requirement of pulses. In this regard, to sustain this production and consumption system, the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare had sanctioned the project “Cluster Frontline Demonstrations on Rabi Pulses 2015-16’’ to ICAR-ATARI, Hyderabad through National Food Security Mission. This project was implemented by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Malegaon of Zone-V with main objective to boost the production and productivity of pulses through CFLDs with latest and speciic technologies. MATERIALS AND METHODS The present investigation of CFLDs was conducted during rabi season 2015-16 by the KVK Malegaon, District Nashik of Maharashtra state. Two villages namely Vadel and Ajang of Malegaon tahsil were selected for this project. Total 50 farmers were selected for the project. Farmers were trained to follow the package and practices for chickpea cultivation as recommended by the State Agricultural Universities and need based input materials provided to the farmers (Table 1). The farmers followed the full package of practices like soil testing, seed treatment with bio- fertilizer, Trichoderma viride, fertilizer application, weed and water management, IPM practices etc. In case of local check, the traditional practices were followed in existing varieties like Chafa, local by the farmers. The yield data were collected from both CFLD and farmers practice plot (local check) and compiled results has been given in (Table 2). Role of Cluster Frontline Demonstrations in Enhancement of Chickpea Production Rupesh Khedkar, Vijay Shinde and Pawan Chaudhari Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Malegaon, Nashik 423 206 (Maharashtra) ABSTRACT The cluster frontline demonstration (CFLDs) on chickpea was conducted by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Malegaon in two villages namely Vadel and Ajang of Malegaon tehsil during the rabi season of 2015- 16. The results revealed that improved seed of Digvijay + seed treatment (Trichoderma viridi 5 g/kg + Rhizobium sp. 25 g/kg + PSB 25 g/kg) + plant protection (Pheromone trap 3 no./acre+ insecticide) recorded average highest yield 21.16 q/ha followed by 16.25 q/ha in control plot. The same trend was found in case of gross and net monetary returns, which was Rs. 84636/- and Rs. 51545/-ha and for control Rs. 64992/- and Rs. 28392/-ha, respectively. Beneit cost ratio for demonstration and control was 2.56 and 1.78, respectively. It can be concluded that the pulses production could be enhanced by encouraging the farmers through adoption of recommended technologies which were followed in the CFLDs. Key words: CFLDs, Chickpea, Grain yield, IPM Corresponding Author’s Email : rups2683@gmail.com DOI : 10.5958/2349-4433.2017.00074.5 J Krishi Vigyan 2017, 6(1) : 172-174 J Krishi Vigyan 2017, 6(1) : 172-174