Dos

• Chickpea is a dryland plant that prefers lighter, well-drained soils. Heavy clay soils are often too moist. Excessive moisture will delay flowering and maturity.
• Improved cultural practices, like bunding, land levelling, adoption of proper dry farming practices, stirring the soil to improve infiltration, etc., are therefore necessary.
• Modification of cultural practices such as deep summer ploughing and application of compost etc.
• Bunding and stirring the soil with the desi plough in the rainy months increases the yield of gram.
• Stirring with a spring-time harrow was as effective as that with the desi plough.
• Roll the land to preserve moisture and to improve harvestability.
• Use of resistant cultivars.
• Sowing of healthy seeds (disease free).
• For reducing wilt, treatment of seed with 1g Carbendazim + 2g Thiram or 4g of Trichoderma viride per kg of seed.
• Inoculate with chickpea-specific inoculant (Rhizobium ssp. cicer). Follow the general guidelines for inoculating pulse crops.
• If seed is treated, it should be planted immediately after inoculation, as seed treatments can be toxic to the inoculant.
• Plant into moisture 2 to 3 inches deep.
• Efficient cropping systems (intercropping) have been identified such as chickpea + mustard (NWPZ and NEPZ), chickpea + linseed (CZ) and chickpea + coriander or sunflower (SZ).  The contribution of chickpea towards nitrogen economy in succeeding crop under sequential cropping has been found 30-40 kg/ha. 
• Soil application of 20-40 kg S/ha improved production on light textured soil of NWPZ which are generally deficiency in S.
• Application of 25 kg ZnSO4/ha shown encouraging results in tarai belt of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and on light textured soils of Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana.
• An effective management of several weeds can be achieved by pre-emergence application of pendimethalin @ 0.75-1.25 kg/ha.
• If herbicide is not applied give two hand weedings on 15th and 30th day after sowing.
• Under rainfed conditions, two sprays of 2% urea at the time of flowering and 10 days thereafter were found quite beneficial.
• The crop is irrigated once or twice only when the soil gets much dried up in November or December. Further irrigation may not be needed. While irrigating necessary care should be exercised that there should not be waste stagnation.
• Favorable response to irrigation has been observed in rainfed areas specially in central and south zones.  Irrigation at maximum branching and pod development stage has been most critical and increased the yield by 25 to 50%.
• Micronutrient deficiencies (i.e.: iron, manganese) are rare but can occur. Tissue samples of plants showing symptoms should be taken and analyzed by a soil-testing laboratory.
• Use your least weedy field (chickpea is a poor competitor with weeds).
• Target 5 live plants per square foot.
• Best results and best product quality if crop is left until the majority of the pods are straw yellow, or if direct harvesting, take crop off at 17 - 18% and dry down to 15% for storage.

Don'ts

• Chickpeas are not well adapted to saline soils.
• Do not apply large amounts of nitrogen, as this will reduce nitrogen fixation and delay maturity.
• Post-emergent rolling or harrowing can cause severe crop injury.
• Excess moisture may be equally harmful as the crop may be affected not only by lack of aeration but also by poor nodulation and low rhizobial activity.
• Avoid using of bruchid infected seed for sowing