Assessment of yield losses caused by chickpea chlorotic dwarf geminivirus in chickpea (Cicer arietinum) in India

Yield losses caused by chickpea chlorotic dwarf virus in chickpea were estimated by comparing uninfected and infected plants in the field at two locations in India. When infection was before flowering, yield losses of individual plants amounted to nearly 100% in the three cultivars studies. Plants that became infected during flowering had yield losses of 75-90%. Percentage of crop loss is likely to equal percentage of disease incidence, since plant densities in farmers' fields are probably too low to allow uninfected plants around infected ones to compensate the yield losses of infected plants.