Production technology of Pulses

Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK)(Indian Council of Agricultural Research)

Longleng : 798625, Nagaland

Production technology of Pulses

Pulse crops are the most important food crops after cereals, refer to “grain legumes.” They are rich source of proteins containing about 20-30%. In India, pulses form is an integral part of diet as a source of protein and also rich in Calcium and Phosphorous. It is second major source of dietary protein (27%) after cereals (55%). The share of animal protein is low as 18% (Ali, 2003). Food legumes are commonly known as “poor man’s meat” because of their high pro-tein content, low price and its wide spread access to the poor. Pulses can fix atmospheric nitrogen and their deep penetrating root system enables the plants to utilize limited available moisture more efficiently. It improve the physical con-dition of the soil like soil aeration, water holding capacity, improving microbial population, breaking of hard pans and moisture retention. Pulses can be use as catch crop, cover crop, intercrop and crop rotation. The per capita requirement of pulses according to ICMR is 150gm/capita/day and according to FAO, 140gm/capita/day. In India, pulse productivity is much lower than other pulse producing countries. India need to import pulses to the tune of 2 M tonne every year (Rs 3000 crores) to meet its domestic requirement. The decreasing per capita avail-ability of pulses from 69g in1961 to 34.5g in 2010 in the country has been a serious concern. Therefore to elevate protein energy malnutrition, a minimum of 50g pulses /capita/day should be available in addition to other source of protein such as cereals, milk meat and egg. At present, the per capita availability of pulses in India is only 47gm/capita/day. But it has been well demonstrated in the FLDs that improved technology is capable of at least doubling the present level of pulses productivity.

Varietal improvement Development of high yielding varieties of different pulse crops with wide adaptability has minimized the fluctuations in productivity and has shown stable performance. Varieties for various agro-ecological zones and non-traditional areas have also been developed, which are given in table:

table1: suitable variety for the nagalandCrop Varieties

Lentil HUL 57, Shalimar Masoor 1, VL Masoor 1, 4 ,103 125, 126, DPL62,

Field pea HFP 9426, IPFD 1-10, Pant p 25, VL 45, HUDP 15

Green gram Sweta, Pant Mung 6, Shalimar Moong 1,Samrat

Urd bean BDU 99-2, pant Urd 31, Pant Urd 40,Uttra

Rice bean RBS-16, RBS-53, PRR-2, and RCRB-4

Pigeonpea Bahar, Amar, Narendra Arhar 1, Pusa 9, MAL 13, NDA 2, MA 6 ICPL – 8791, ICP - 7035

Rajma HUr 15, Udai, Utkarsh, Arun, Amber

Chick pea BG 256, Udai (KPG 59), Pusa 372, KWR 108, Gujarat G 4 HK 2

Production technology Greater awareness among the farmers about the use of critical inputs like, irrigation, fertilizer and agro-chemicals is helping in enhancing the productiv-ity. The importance of some of non-monetary/low cost inputs like timely sowing with adequate plant stand, inoculation with Rhizobium culture, seed treatment with fungicides and weed management also increases crop productivity.

seed treatment/inoculation Seed treatment with fungicides (captan or thirum @ 2-3 g/kg seed) to prevent seed borne diseases and seed inoculation with Rhizobium and phosphate solubilising bacteria (PSB) to enhance nitrogen fixation and availability of Phos-phorus before sowing.

sowing parameters Seed should be pure, free from disease and physical damage with 95% viabil-ity. The seed rate should be enhanced by 15-20 % if sowing is delayed on in utera cropping in rice fallows. The details of sowing parameter is shown in the table 2.

table 2: sowing time, spacing and seed rate of different pulse crop

Crop Sowing time Spacing (RXP) Seed rate (kg/ha)

Green gram Black gram

2nd week of February (Kharif)Sept-mid October (Rabi crop)

Kharif and rabi crop: 30-45 cm(R-R),7-10(P-P)Spring and summer crop:20-25 cm(R-R), 7-10 (P-P)

kharif & Rabi season:15-20Spring & summer season:25-30

Rajma Feb-March and June -July 40-45x10 cm 70-80

Pigeon pea 1st week of June-July

120 x 60 cm(long duration variety)60-75 cm x 25-30 cm(short duration variety)

10-15

Rice bean Mid June – Mid July 30-45 cm x 15 cm 15-20

Chick pea3rd week of September- No-vember

50 x 10 cm 45-60

Lentil3rd week of September- No-vember

30 cm apart 30-40

Field Pea3rd week of September- No-vember

30 x 10-15cm 60-80

Plant population 8-12 plants/m2 in pigeon pea, 33-40 plants/m2 in moong bean/urd bean and chickpea, 80 plants/m2 in lentil and 33-40 plants/m2 for dwarf pea varieties and 20-22 plants/m2 for tall varieties is optimum plants population respectively.

fertilizer management On an average 20-30 kg nitrogen, 50-60 kg phosphorus and 40-60 kg potassium per ha should be applied for good yield of pulses. Rajma require more nitrogen compare to other pulses i.e. 100-120 kg/ha. Sulpher applied @ 20-25 kg/ha resulted in higher seed yield. Soil application of 2-4 ppm Zn or foliar spray of 0.5 % ZnSO4 with 0.05 % lime have proved to be effective controlling in Zn deficiency. Application of organic manures @8-10 t/ha in sandy soil increase the seed yield to a greater extent. The fertilizer should be applied either at the time of sowing or just before sowing in such a way that they are placed about 5-8 cm below the seed. Band placement of fertilizers gives better results than the traditional broadcasting methods. Estimates of nitrogen fixed by various pulse crops. The legume and their symbiotic associations with the bacteria Rhizobium result in the formation of root nodules that fix atmospheric nitrogen. Different pulses have varying nitrogen fixing capability presented in the table3.

Table3: Nitrogen fixation by different pulse crop

Sl. No. Crop Nitrogen fixed(Kg/ha)

1 Pigeon pea 41-90

2 Chick pea 23-97

3 Lentil 41-90

4 Field Pea 46

5 Green gram 50-66

6 Black gram 119-140

Source: Gupta et al., 2006

Weed management Weed competition during first 30-60 days of the crop is very sensitive therefore weed control is very essential during these stages. The effective weed management in pulses achieved by adapting the integrated weed management are as follows.1. Two mechanical/hand weeding, one at 25-30 days and another at 45-60

days after sowing give excellent weed control at initial stage of crop growth. 2. Application of Fluchloralin (Basalin) 45% EC (1.75-2 kg per ha in 800-1000

litres of water before sowing and should be well incorporated in the soil before sowing.

3. Pre-emergent application of Alachlor (Lasso) 50 EC (3 lit/ha) or Metribuzin (Sencor) 70% WP (0.5kg/ha) in 800-1000 lit of water within 2 days after sowing controls broad leaved weeds.

4. Application of pre sowing/pre-emergent weedicide followed by one hand weeding and hoeing at 30-50 days is most effective.

Water management Pre- kharif sown crop during the months of february to march needs 2-3 irrigations at 15 days interval after 20 days of sowing which is most critical stage for increasing yield and pod size. Crop planted in June, one or two pre-man-soon irrigations should be given as per requirement. After the start of mansoon, there is no need of irrigation but increase of prolonged drought during the repro-ductive period of growth, one or two irrigation may be needed.On light textured soils, 1-2 irrigations at branching and pod development prove highly productive in most of winter pulses crops. Irrigation should be avoided during active flowering period otherwise flower shedding and reversion to vegetative growth may occur. Good drainage facilities should be provided for higher yield.

integrated Pest Management in PulsesCultural and mechanical methods• Deepsummerploughingtoincreasethedesiccationofpathogenandinfected

plant parts.• Regularmonitoringofthecropforpestanddiseaseoccurrence.• Collectanddestroytheeggmassesandpupae• Removalanddestructionofweedsanddiseaseaffectedplants• Avoidtheexcessirrigationtopreventtherootrot/wiltdiseases• Timelysowingofseedstopreventtheoccurrenceofpestanddiseases.• Avoidingstagnationofwaterinthefieldforlimitingthebuildupofrootrotdiseases

• Croprotationwithanynon-pulsecrops• Soilrakingthroughweedingmayreducethesoilgrubs.• Apply 50 kg potash/ha to crop raisedwith closer spacing (20x10 cm) to

reduce pod borer incidence.• Infectedcropdebrismustbeburntafterharvestingofcrops• Installationofbirdperches(35-40/ha)• Setuplighttraptomonitor,attractandkillthepodborermoths.• Useyellowstickytrap@10traps/ha.Tomanageaphids.• Pheromonetraps@12nos./ha,toreducegrampodborerincidence.

Biological methods• SeedtreatmentwithTrichodermaandPseudomonasformulations@5g/kgof

seeds• Releaseeggparasitee.g.Trichogrammasppfor thecontrolofHelicoverpa

armigera.• ConservenaturalenemieslikePreyingmantis,Mudwasp,Dragonflies,Spi-

ders etc.• SoilapplicationofTrichodermaviride,Pseudomonasbiocontrolformulation

@ 2.5 kg/ha along with 50 kg of FYM for control of soil borne diseases• Applicationofneemcake@50kg/hainnematodeinfestedsoils.

chemical methods Seed treatment with carbendazim @ 2g/kg of seeds to prevent the diseases Seed pelleting with chloropyriphos @ 4 ml/kg of seed may reduce the early

pests. For sucking pests, spray dimethoate (0.03%), Imidaclopride (0.01%) in 500

litres of spray solution/ha. For borers and foliage feeders, spray Monocroptophos (0.05%), Dimethoate

(0.03%) in 500 litres of spray solution/ha. Foliar spray of Penconazole @ 0.025% or Tridemorph @ 0.1% or Dinocap @

0.1% at 5-7 days interval for control of rust disease

harvesting and yield The plants are cut as close as ground level. The harvested plant should be left in sun for drying for few days on threshing floor. Threshing should be done either manually (beating the pods with sticks) or by trampling under the feet of bullocks. Proportion of seeds to pod is generally 50-60 percent. The threshed and cleaned produce should be further sundried so that the grain moisture content may be reduced to 10-11% percent (Table 4).

table 4: duration, yield and moisture % of different pulse cropSl. No.

Crop Duration (Days)

Yield(t/ha)

Moisture % during storage

1 Green gram, Black gram 60-70 1.00-1.2 0 9-10 %

2 Rajma 115-130 1.50-1.80 10-12 %.

3 Pigeon peaShort durationMedium durationLong duration

100-150150-180180-300

1.20-1.501.80-2.102.10-2.50

9-10 %

4 Chick pea 90-120 1.80-2.20 8-9%

5 Lentil 115-130 0.80-1.30 12-14

6 Field PeaVegetable Grain

70-90115-130

6.00-8.0012.00-16.00

10-12%

7 Rice bean 90-120 1.00-1.50 8-9 %

Pictures of iMPortant Pulse croP

lentil plant & seed

Pigeon pea plant & seed

green gram Plant & seed

rajma Plant & seed

Black gram Plant & seed

rice bean Plant & seed

chick pea Plant & seed Pea Plant & seed

root rot

anthracnose on beans

hairy caterpillar

Powdery mildew

Blister Beetles

damaged by aphids Pod borers damage

yellow mosaic virus

Wilt in pigeon pea

Pod damaged by pod fly

Wilt in lentil

Pictures of iMPortant Pest and diseases of Pulses

Compiled & Edited by:Manoj Kumar, d.J. rajkhowa, rajesha g, K.l. Meena, e. lireni Kikon, P. chowdhury, K. lily rangnamei, P.K. Zeliang, & t.s.ezung

Published under tsP –Pulses year: 2016

Published by: Programme Coordinator Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Longleng-798625, Nagaland