Occurence and management of Chickpea chlorotic dwarf virus in chickpea fields in northern Sudan

Abstract

A field survey of chickpea for viruses was carried out in River Nile State, northern Sudan, in the 1996– 1997 and 1999–2000 growing seasons. A total of 42 fields (24 in the first season and 18 in the second) were visually inspected. The fields surveyed covered the main areas of chickpea production. On the basis of the main symptoms observed, stunting and yellowing, the range of virus incidence was 7–25% in the first season and 25–62% in the second. Tissue-blot immunoassay (TBIA) of 264 chickpea samples with symptoms, and collected in 1996–2000, indicated that Chickpea chlorotic dwarf virus (CpCDV, Family Geminiviridae) was the most common (72.7%). Field trials at Hudeiba Research Station in northern Sudan in the 1999–2000 and 2000–2001 growing seasons to evaluate the influence of cultivar, sowing date and irrigation interval on the natural spread of CpCDV in chickpea fields revealed that virus incidence in “Shendi” was lower than that in “ICCV-2”, regardless of planting date. Delayed sowing reduced CpCDV incidence in the three growing seasons from 1999 to 2002. Virus incidence was also reduced by short irrigation intervals during the growing seasons 1999–2000 and 2001–2002. Therefore, the combined effect of partial resistance, delayed planting and irrigation at short intervals proved useful in chickpea stunt management in chickpea fields in northern Sudan.