Assessment of Technology and Yield Gap of Chickpea in Bundelkhand Region of Uttar Pradesh, India

Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh (UP), India is a major pulse producer in the Indian subcontinent. The agriculture production, particularly, pulses have been playing a great role in strengthening the economic conditions and are the source of livelihood of Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh state. The productivity of chickpea crop is low due to lack of adoption of best management practices of chickpea by farmers Keeping these constraints under consideration the yield gap and technology gap assessed of the region by conducting Cluster Front Line Demonstrations on best management practices of chickpea during Rabi seasons in the year 2015-16 to 2018-2019, respectively. The demonstration was carried out in six villages of Mahoba district. The results revealed that the full technological gap in 5 practices (variety, seed treatment, seed inculcation with Rhizobium, weed management practices and plant protection), a partial gap in 3 practices (seed rate, fertilizer management and irrigation) and Nil gap in 2 practices (land preparation and sowing methods). Further, Average grain yield of chickpea showed a remarkable increase (32%) in CFLDs compared to Farmers practice (check). However, it is still behind to potential yield. The average technological gap, extension gap and technology index were 8.10 q ha-1, 3.30q ha-1 and 36.6% respectively. The study recommends the improvement of productivity of chickpea may be achieved through fulfilling the gap between demonstration yield and farmers practice yield. Therefore, more effort requires to determine the socio-economic factors for practicing age-old practice and extension efforts needed to the rapid diffusion of best management practices. Further, The future study on variable climate conditions and edaphic factors requires to determine the gap between potential and demonstration yield.