INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT IN CHICKPEA TO ENHANCE THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF SCHEDULE CAST FARMERS OF DISTRICT JHANSI, UTTAR PRADESH Adesh Kumar 1 *, Roomi Rawal 2 , Ajay Kumar 3 , Nishi Roy 4 , Narendra Singh 5 , N. K. Bajpai 5 , Mukesh Sehgal 6 and Ajanta Birah 6 1 Department of Horticulture, CCS, Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar - 125 004, India. 2 College of Agriculture, Bawal - 123 501, CCS, Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar - 125 004, India. 3 Department of Plant Protection, CCS University, Meerut - 250 004, India. 4 Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bharari (Dist- Jhansi) - 284 002, Inda. 5 Directorate of Extension, Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda - 210 001, India. 6 ICAR-National Research Centre for Integrated Pest Management, LBS Building, Pusa Campus, New Delhi - 110 012, India. *Corresponding author - Adesh Kumar, e-mail : adeshpp@gmail.com (Received 31 October 2024, Revised 25 November 2024, Accepted 31 December 2024) ABSTRACT : Elevation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in Chickpea was carried out under SCSP project in five adopted villages namely Lakara, Birgua, Belate-Karke, Bdawali and Chokri of district Jhansi during Rabi 2020-21 in farmer’s participatory mode using IPM critical inputs. The less pest and diseases incidence was noticed in IPM farmer’s field as compared to non IPM farmer’s field. The range of Fusarium wilt (FW) in the IPM field of adopted village was only 5-14%, wherein non-IPM field it was 22-32%. Likewise, dry root rot (DRR) and collar rot disease (CR) incidence was reduced in IPM fields as compared to non-IPM fields. The higher mean population of gram pod borer larvae was also observed in non-IPM module with range of 2-3 larvae per plant, while the range of larvae in IPM module was 0.2-0.8 larva per plant. The IPM farmers field yield was 13.20 q/ha, which was 55% higher than non IPM farmers field (8.60 q/ha). Thus, IPM also recorded higher net return (Rs 36580/ha) and BC ratio (1.99) in comparison to non-IPM (net return Rs 21861/ha and BC ratio 2.55). These practices had uplifted the socio-economic status of farmers and promises to improve further. Key words : Chickpea, IPM, pest, disease, net return. How to cite : Adesh Kumar, Roomi Rawal, Ajay Kumar, Nishi Roy, Narendra Singh, N. K. Bajpai, Mukesh Sehgal and Ajanta Birah (2025) Integrated pest management in chickpea to enhance the socio-economic status of schedule cast farmers of district Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh. J. Exp. Zool. India 28, 899-902. DOI: https://doi.org/10.51470/jez.2025.28.1.899 J. Exp. Zool. India Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 899-902, 2025 ISSN 0972-0030 Website : www.connectjournals.com/jez eISSN 0976-1780 DOI: https://doi.org/10.51470/jez.2025.28.1.899 INTRODUCTION Chickpea is an important food legume commodity and have a diverse use with specific consumer preference in the global market. India is one of the important pulse producers of the world, contribute 24% share in global production (Rawal and Navarro, 2019). Chickpea contributes the single largest share in India’s export basket of pulses registering 70.92 and 80.02 per cent share in the total pulses export during 2017-18 and 2018- 19, respectively (Anonymous, 2019). The major pulse- growing states in India are Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, which together account for more than 80% of the total production (Ali and Gupta, 2012). Uttar Pradesh produces 8.05 lakh tons of chickpea where it is cultivated in an area of 5.84 lakh hectares. Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh is producing almost 50% of the total chickpea production in the state. Chickpea production is hampered by 172 pathogens including fungi, bacteria, viruses and nematodes, out of which 89 have been reported from India alone (Cother, 1977; Yadav and Sehgal, 2010; Chandrasekhar et al, 2104). Gram pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hub.) is one of the serious pests of chickpea crop. This pest is highly polyphagous and has been reported to damage more than 182 species of host plants (Lammers and MacLeod, 2007). The majority of fungi which caused the yield loss are soil borne; therefore, it is very difficult to manage. Integrated pest management is a tactic in which we can manage and reduce biotic factors. Bio- ORIGINAL ARTICLE