Hopefully most chickpea growers won’t need it this winter cropping season, but they’d be wise to have the latest release in the popular Ute Guide series on hand, in the vehicle glove box – just in case.

Like all others in the popular series, “Chickpea Disorders: the Ute Guide” makes lavish use of colour photographs to help farmers and advisers identify diseases and disorders, often showing these problems at varying  stages of crop development.

Although not claiming to cover  every  problem in chickpeas, the guide does include seed and seedling disorders, stem and leaf and stem and root diseases,  Ascochyta blight, Fusarium wilt,  Phytopthora root rot, viruses and nematodes.

There’s a section on environmental disorders – frost, hail, physiological leaf spot, reddening, salinity, sodicity and waterlogging – and others on nutritional disorders and herbicide injuries.  

“Chickpea Disorders” continues the virtually indestructible Ute Guide format designed to withstand conditions in the traditionally overflowing glove boxes of Australia’s farm vehicles.

Funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and produced by Queensland’s Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (QDPI&F), the Ute Guides measure 15cm by 10cm, and use materials designed to withstand hard usage – heavy duty, waterproof, synthetic paper, with full metal spiral binding. 

Earlier Ute Guides covered weeds and insects for the northern grains region, cereal diseases and nutrition, grain quality and canola while the “Disorders” component of the series covered  peanuts and navy beans, mungbeans and soybeans, winter pulses and lucerne before extending the approach to chickpeas.

QDPI&F specialist pulse agronomist Mike Lucy says that, while “Chickpea Disorders: the Ute Guide” has national relevance, it has improved focus on chickpea production in the northern region, where the Australian industry is now largely centred.

“QDPI&F pathologists Michael Fuhlbohm and Mal Ryley were the major specialist contributors to the guide, which should prove invaluable to growers and advisers alike in northern NSW and Queensland,” Mr Lucy said.

“The value of the Ute Guides is as a field reference, which people can take them into the paddock and compare the situation there with the appropriate photographs in the guide.

“Ironically not many Northern growers might need the Ute Guide this season, which appears to be disease free, even on the Darling Downs, where just about every crop had Ascochyta last year.

“There would be plenty of inoculum out there but seasonal conditions are different in 2004 – cold and dry, the complete opposite of 2003.”

“Chickpea Disorders: the Ute Guide” is available from Ground Cover Direct on Free Phone 1800 11 00 44 or email ground-cover-direct@canprint.com.au, or the QDPI&F  Information Centre, PO Box 102, Toowoomba, 4350 (07 4688 1415, fax 07 4688 1416) for $20 (including GST) plus postage and handling.