In this article we will discuss about:- 1. Origin and Distribution of Pigeonpea 2. Area and Production of Pigeonpea 3. Varieties and Seasons 4. Tillage and Seeding 5. Plant Population 6. Nutrient Management 7. Water Management 8. Weed Management 9. Package of Practices 10. Harvesting and Storage 11. Quality Considerations.
Contents:
- Origin and Distribution of Pigeonpea
- Area and Production of Pigeonpea
- Varieties and Seasons of Pigeonpea
- Tillage and Seeding of Pigeonpea
- Plant Population of Pigeonpea
- Nutrient Management for Pigeonpea
- Water Management for Pigeonpea
- Weed Management for Pigeonpea
- Package of Practices for Pigeonpea
- Harvesting and Storage of Pigeonpea
- Quality Considerations of Pigeonpea
1. Origin and Distribution of Pigeonpea:
Pigeonpea is a native of India as evident from the presence of several wild relatives, the large diversity of crop gene pool, ample linguistic evidence, archeological remains and wide use in daily cuisine. Several others considered eastern Africa as the origin of pigeonpea since it occurs wild in Africa. The range of crop diversity in India is much large, which made Vavilove (1951) list the pigeonpea as of Indian origin.
All the available evidence indicates Peninsular India as the place of origin of pigeonpea. The name pigeonpea probably originated in America where it reached in the fifteenth century, because the seeds where favoured by pigeons. It is now widely grown in Indian subcontinent, which accounts for almost 90 per cent of the world’s crop.
Pigeonpea is grown throughout the tropical and subtropical countries of the world especially in South Asia, Eastern and Southern Africa, Latin America, Caribbean countries and Australia. According to FAO statistics, worldwide pigeonpea is grown in about 4.5 M ha with a production of 3.0 M t. India is the largest producer of pigeonpea accounting about 82.0 per cent of total production and 81.0 per cent of total area of the world.
Other major pigeonpea producing countries are Myanmar (10.02%), Malawi (2.64%) and Uganda (2.60%). The productivity is highest in Uganda (1000 kg ha-1) followed by Nepal (875kg ha-1) and India (723 kg ha-1).
Pigeonpea, like other pulses, is considered a subsidiary crop in cropping systems of Indian framers. Often relegated to marginal lands, intercropped pigeonpea receives little or no purchased inputs, nor does it attract much of the fanner’s crop management attention. However, more than 90 per cent of its production in the world is from India.
Production of pigeonpea in India has slowly but steadily increased from about 1.7 M t in 1950 to 2.5 M t by 2010. Average yield remained stable around 0.81 ha-1 and contributed little to increased production. Increase in area mainly contributed to increased production. Maharastra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka account for 78 per cent of the total area and 79 per cent of the total production in the country.
As per GOI (2010), pigeonpea is grown in an area of 3.5 M ha, producing 2.5 M t with a productivity of 723 kg ha-1. It is the second important pulse crop in India after bengalgram, occupying 15.0 per cent of the area and contributing to 15.5 per cent of the total pulses production.
2. Area and Production of Pigeonpea:
Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan), also known as red gram, arhar and tur in India, is an important pulse crop of the country. India is the largest producer and consumer of pigeonpea in the world. Pigeonpea accounts for about 20 per cent of the total production of pulses in the country.
Pigeonpea contains about 22 per cent protein, which is almost three times that of cereals. Pigeonpea supplies a major share of protein requirement of vegetarian population of the country. It is mainly consumed in the form of split pulse as dal, which is an essential supplement of cereal based diet.
The biological value improves greatly, when wheat or rice is combined with pigeonpea because of the complementary relationship of the essential amino acids. It is particularly rich in lysine, riboflavin, thiamine, niacin and iron.
In addition to being an important source of human food and animal feed, pigeonpea also plays an important role in sustaining soil fertility by improving physical properties of soil and fixing atmospheric nitrogen. Being a drought resistant crop, it is suitable for drylands and predominantly used as an intercrop with other crops.
3. Varieties and Seasons of Pigeonpea:
Varieties:
One of the reasons often cited for low yields of pigeonpea is lack of improved varieties available to the farmers. Traditional medium and long duration types are suitable for a single cropping sequence only and do not fit into intensive systems. A number of different duration varieties have been developed to suit different farming situations by the All India Coordinated Pulse Improvement Project (Table 8.14).
In Andhra Pradesh, LRG 30 (Palnadu) is the promising variety both during kharif and rabi. The other recommended variety for both the seasons is Laxmi (ICPL 85063). Varieties recommended for kharif are Maruti, Abhaya, Asha (ICPL 8719), HY 3 C, MRG 66, Durga (ICPL 84031) and PRG 100. TRG 22, WRG 53, PEG 158 and LRG 41 are the latest additions up to 2010.
Seasons:
In traditional Indian systems, full season medium and long duration types are sown around longest day (15 June to 15 July). Since pigeonpea is photoperiod sensitive when sown later in the season, they produce less vegetative growth because of early flowering leading to poor yield. Short season crop maturing in 140-160 days is usually sown in first fortnight of June with premonsoon rains. The reason is decline in biomass production due to early flowering and slow growth.
Recently developed extra short duration types can be sown as late as July with marginal reduction in yield. Since they mature 15-20 days earlier than short duration types, they allow timely sowings of succeeding wheat crop. In recent years, advancing sowing time of short duration pigeonpea to April has been encouraged, mainly to allow timely sowing of wheat.
April sown crop mature 15-20 days earlier than June sown crop and produce about 50 per cent higher yield. In addition, the succeeding wheat crop gives 25 per cent more yield than that following June sown crop. While there are substantial advantages in April sowing, potential for this cropping pattern is limited by its requirement for irrigation.
In tropical environment, such as Peninsular India, where temperatures are mild, it is possible to obtain multiple harvests of short duration pigeonpea by allowing the crop to continue growing after harvest of first flush of pods.
In this situation, sowing as early as possible in June ensures not only high yields from the first flush but also from subsequent flushes under both rainfed and irrigated conditions. The main reason for decline in the yield of July/August sowings is reduced vegetative growth due to declining solar radiation and temperature.
Postrainy season pigeonpea can be successfully grown in areas where winters are mild such as parts of eastern and Peninsular India. Under the influence of short photoperiods, the crop matures before the environmental conditions become too harsh. In parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, excessively wet soil conditions are not ideal for rainy season crop.
Long duration varieties sown at the receding end of monsoon have been found to yield 2-3 t ha-1. Optimum sowing time for post rainy season crop is September in all the regions. Yield potential is somewhat less (1-2 t ha-1) in Peninsular India due to increasing soil moisture stress during reproductive stage.
From the discussion, following are the optimum sowings times under different situations:
Early season irrigated (Punjab and Haryana): First week of June.
Early season irrigated (UP and northern Rajasthan): Second fortnight of June.
Medium-early varieties: First fortnight of April in north India.
Late season varieties: First week of July in all the zones.
Pre-rabi crop: September/October in all the zones.
4. Tillage and Seeding of Pigeonpea:
Pigeonpea crop does not require special land preparation. Deep ploughing to a depth of 15 cm is adequate to obtain a good crop. Pigeonpea is sensitive to waterlogging, particularly during seedling stage. Moderate to excess moisture cause general yellowing of crop and standing water for 2-3 days may result in partial or complete loss of crop depending on growth stage.
Provision of adequate drainage is, therefore, an important consideration in land preparation. Sowing on ridges, especially in heavy soils, gives 20-30 per cent higher yield than on flat beds due to better aeration in rhizosphere. Where ridging is not practical, a gentle scope is desirable. Broad bed and furrow system has been found useful in improving drainage on heavy black soils.
Pigeonpea is usually mixed with other crop seeds and sown by drilling with a row spacing of 30 cm. For sole crop, the row spacing depends on the duration of the variety. In intercropping systems, row spacing depends on the proportion of component crops.
Optimum depth of sowing pigeonpea is 4-5 cm. Emergence decreases by around 80 per cent when sown 8 cm deep. When dry seeded, in anticipation of rains, the depth should be around 8 cm. On light soils also, the depth of seeding should not exceed 5-6 cm for normal seeding.
5. Plant Population of Pigeonpea:
Long duration full season crop, generally, has low optimum plant population of 5 plants m-2 (50000 plants ha-1). Increasing plant population to 10 plants m-2 has no significant yield advantages. On black soil, 1:1 proportions of sorghum or pearlmillet and pigeonpea (15 plants m-2 of pigeonpea) is optimum. On light red soils, 2:1 row proportion of sorghum or pearlmillet and pigeonpea with same plant population is optimum.
Plant population is one of the important factors affecting yield of short duration pigeonpea that are more responsive to high plant populations. Plant population requirements of short duration varieties vary with location, time of sowing and variety, depending mainly on vegetative growth. Interactions between plant population and variety are often significant.
In Peninsular India, optimum plant population for short duration pigeonpea is 30 plants m-2, which can be achieved by 30 x 10 cm spacing. Precise plant population varies with variety and its interaction with the plant population. Thus, ICPL 87 has an optimum population of about 25 plants m-2 as it grows more vigorously than ICPL 81 whose optimum population is higher.
In subtropical environment of north India, growth of short duration pigeonpea is greater than in Peninsular India due to increased growth rate and longer crop duration. Plant population requirement is, therefore, lower in the range of 10-15 plants m-2.
There are strong date of sowing and plant population interactions with April sown crop requiring about 5 plants m-2 and June sown crop about 15 plants m-2. Under rainfed conditions, optimum plant population for short duration types is 10 plants m-2 due to competition for limited soil moisture.
For satisfactory yields, postrainy season pigeonpea requires 12 -30 plants m-2, more than that required by the same variety in rainy season, since it grows much less tall than rainy seasons crop. In general, 15 plants m-2 appears to be optimum for postrainy season pigeonpea.
From the results of experiments under different agroclimates, the following general conclusions can be drawn on spacing and seed rate for pigeonpea:
Traditional varieties:
Heavy soils: 150 x 12 cm or 180 x 10 cm (10 kg ha-1)
Light soils: 90 x 20 cm (12 kg ha-1)
Medium duration varieties:
Heavy soils: 90 x 20 cm or 120 x 10 cm (12 kg ha-1)
Light soils: 60 x 15 cm or 40 x 10 cm (15 kg ha-1)
Early varieties:
Peninsular India: 45 x 10 cm (25 kg ha-1)
North India: 25 x 15 cm (20 kg ha-1)
Extra early varieties:
Peninsular India: 30 x 10 cm (40 kg ha-1)
North India: 20 x 10 cm (30 kg ha-1)
6. Nutrient Management for Pigeonpea:
It is, generally, observed that pigeonpea responds less to fertilisers than other comparable crops of the semiarid tropics. To produce 1.0 t of pigeonpea grain about 56 N, 12 P2O5 and 26 K2O kg ha-1 are required. Since yield of pigeonpea in traditional production systems are law, its nutrient requirements are easily met from nitrogen fixation or from the soil.
However, latest short duration varieties, normally grown as sole crops, necessitated need for fertiliser application for realising their potential yields. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium uptakes takes place throughout the vegetative phase and continue during the reproductive phase. However, the percentage content of these elements in various vegetative and reproductive organs decline throughout the growing season.
The percentage nitrogen in leaves declined from around 5 per cent to 1.5 per cent at the time of abscission and of phosphorus from 0.3 per cent to less than 0.1 per cent. Total nitrogen uptake reported for pigeonpea crop in India range from 75 to 215 kg ha-1 and phosphorus from 10 to 25 kg ha-1. Phosphorus concentration of 0.30-0.33 per cent in leaf lamina, 60 days after sowing, is considered adequate for pigeonpea. Adequate potassium in the same leaf blade is 1.32 per cent.
Several studies summerised by Sadaphal (1988) indicate that phosphorus is the most frequently limiting nutrient for pigeonpea. High yields can be obtained with application of 40-60 kg P2O5 ha-1. Response to starter dose of 20 to 25 kg N ha-1 to meet the needs of early growth and promote nodulation appears to enhance pigeonpea yield. Deficiencies of K, Zn and minor nutrients have also been reported on some soils.
From the results of experiments, the following fertiliser schedule appears to be optimum for pigeonpea:
Nitrogen:
20 kg ha-1 for long and medium duration varieties and 15 kg ha-1 for early varieties by placement at sowing.
Phosphorus:
50 kg P2O5 ha-1 for phosphorus deficient soils and 40 kg P2O5 ha-1 for soils with medium phosphorous content by placement at sowing.
Potassium:
20 kg K2O ha-1 for potassium deficient soils by placement at sowing.
In Andhra Pradesh, recommended fertiliser schedule is 20 N and 50 P2O5 in addition to 5 t ha-1 FYM for kharif crop. For rabi crop, however, the nitrogen dose is doubled (40 N kg ha-1). In India, diammonium phosphate (DAP) is the most commonly used form of P2O5 for legumes, including pigeonpea. At the normally recommended rate of 100 kg DAP ha-1, it supplies 18 kg N and 46 kg P2O5 ha-1, which are the optimum rates for pigeonpea.
It is sometimes reported that DAP as foliar spray around flowering improves pigeonpea yield but the casual factor N or P is not differentiated. Next most commonly used phosphatic fertiliser is single superphosphate, which can meet the needs of sulphur requirement. Gypsum and elemental sulphur (10-20 kg ha-1) are the source for sulphur deficient soils. Zinc sulphate (25 kg ha-1) is the common source of correcting zinc deficiency.
7. Water Management for Pigeonpea:
Pigeonpea uses about 200 to 250 mm water to produce about 1.0 t of grain under traditional production systems. Most pigeonpea growing regions in India receive 600 to 1400 mm annual rainfall. Soil moisture is usually adequate to meet the needs of crop in northern and central India.
Length of crop season in Peninsular India is only 90 to 120 days due to shortage of soil moisture. Medium and long duration varieties grown in this region suffer from terminal drought stress Applications of two to three irrigations can double the yield on deep black soils.
Intensively managed short duration pigeonpea systems have water requirement of 550 to 600 mm. Bhan and Khan (1979) recorded significant response to one or two supplemental irrigations on sandy loam soils (Table 8.15).
Single irrigation at pod filling stage gave better response than irrigation based on cumulative plan evaporation (CPE). There may not be any response to irrigation if the rainfall is normal during the crop season. Excess water actually harms the crop in the absence of adequate drainage. The crop should be irrigated when it shows stress, indicated by the leaves pointing towards the sun at noon. Excess rainfall or irrigation leads to fusarium wilt besides delay in maturity.
Response to irrigation is, generally, more consistent in postrainy season pigeonpea grown on sorted soil moisture. Three irrigations at monthly intervals can almost double the yield on light soils. More than two irrigations may not be necessary for pigeonpea crop on medium and deep soils during postrainy season.
8. Weed Management for Pigeonpea:
Among the pulses, pigeonpea is the only crop that has characteristically slow initial growth rate making it less competitive with weeds. Reduction in yield could be up to 90 per cent if weeds are not controlled in time.
Some of the common weeds associated with pigeonpea are:
In traditional production systems, intercropping is able to reduce weed infestation by 50 to 70 per cent. Intercropping of maize and sorghum can suppress weeds for longer period. With short season pigeonpea, fast growing cereals are unsuitable intercrops.
However, low stature crops such as cowpea, greengram, blackgram, groundnut and soybean as smother crops can minimise the weed problem. Short season pigeonpea can take advantage of high plant density even when grown as sole crop.
For short season pigeonpea, the first 30 days appear critical, although this period may vary with the genotype and time of sowing. One hand weeding at 45 DAS is not as effective as two weeding’s at 25 and 45 days after sowing. A number of herbicides have been found useful for pigeonpea systems.
The following PRE herbicides are very effective in minimising weed problem:
Parquat can be used to control weeds that have already germinated at the time of sowing. There may not be any toxic effect to crop even when paraquat is applied 4 days after sowing. It is common observation that herbicides are slightly inferior to hand weeding in pigeonpea.
It is, therefore, suggested to give a hand weeding at 40 to 45 days after sowing in herbicide applied fields. Marginal superiority of Oxadiazon and Pendimethalin herbicides has been indicated, since they are effective for longer period than others recommended for weed control in pigeonpea.
9. Package of Practices for Pigeonpea:
Agronomy of pigeonpea has been summarised as package of practices for pigeonpea.
Tillage:
1. One ploughing followed by 1 or 2 harrowings would be adequate for a rainfed crop on heavy soils.
2. Adequate slope should be provided to drain excess water especially on heavy soils.
3. Ridge sowing is effective against wilt.
Varieties for AP:
1. Recommended varieties are Tirupati Kandi 1, (TRG 22), Warangal Kandi (WRG 53), Palem Kandi (PRG 158), LRG 41, LRG 38, Palnadu (LRG 30), Asha (ICPL 87119), Lakshmi (ICPL 85063), Durga (ICPL 84031), MRG 66, Adhaya (ICPL 332), Maruthi, WRG 27 and Surya (MRG 1004).
2. Short duration varieties like ICPL 88039, Saritha and ICPL 85010 can escape terminal soil moisture stress during post-rainy season.
Seeds and Seeding:
1. First week of June is optimum sowing time for early-season irrigated crop in Punjab and Haryana.
2. Optimum sowing time for early-season irrigated varieties in UP and northern Rajasthan is second fortnight of June and for medium-early varieties, first fortnight of April in north India.
3. First week of July is optimum for sowing late season varieties in all the zones.
4. September/October is ideal for pre-rabi crop in all the zones.
5. Traditional long duration varieties on heavy soils, sown in July, require 150-180 x 10-12 cm and on light soils 90 x 20 cm spacing.
6. For medium duration varieties, 90 x 20 or 120 x 10 cm is optimum on heavy soils while 60 x 15 or 40 x 10 cm is ideal on light soils.
7. In south India, optimum spacing for early varieties is 45 x 10 cm as against 25×15 cm in north India.
8. Seed rate varies from 10 to 12 kg ha-1 for traditional varieties to around 30 kg ha-1 for early varieties under different situations.
Fertiliser Schedule in AP:
1. Recommended schedule for kharif crop is 20 N + 50 P2 O5 + 5 t ha-1 of FYM and 40 N + 60 P2 O5 kg ha-1 for rabi irrigated crop.
2. DAP at 100 kg ha-1 is the most common dose used by farmers in India.
3. Entire dose is recommended at seeding by placement/drilling.
4. Soil application of zinc sulphate at 25 kg ha-1 is necessary for a crop on intensively cropped soils.
Water Management:
1. Flower initiation and pod filling stages are relatively more sensitive to soil moisture stress.
2. Generally, kharif pegionpea is not an irrigated crop in central and peninsular India.
3. April sown crop in UP, Punjab and Rajasthan is given two or three irrigations.
4. A rabi crop on deep black soils is not, generally, irrigated. Crop on light soil is given two to three irrigations.
5. One irrigation at pod filling stage can double the yield of a post-monsoon rainfed crop
Weed Management:
1. Critical period of weed competition is first 40 DAS.
2. Deep ploughing to eradicate perennial weeds once in 2 or 3 years.
3. Two or three timely intercultivations can minimise the losses due to weeds.
4. Herbicides like Alachlor, Meatolachlor, Pendimethalin are effective for weed control in pigeonpea.
5. In several situations, integrated weed management involving PRE herbicides (Alachlor, Meatolachlor, Pndimethalin etc) and timely intercultivation is more economical.
10. Harvesting and Storage of Pigeonpea:
Near cities, green pods are harvested for sale as vegetable. Fully developed pods are usually handpicked before they start losing green colour. Dry seeds of pigeonpea are harvested when the pods are fully ripe and have turned yellow but before the pods start to shatter. Harvesting is usually done manually using a sickle to cut the pod bearing branches.
Harvested material is dried in sun in the threshing yard for about a week. Threshing is done manually by beating with sticks to separate out the seeds. Farmers most commonly use mud bins for storing the pigeopea. At farm level, jute bags are used to store the seed. Storage in jute bags is common in markets and urban mills.
Pulse beetles are important pests of stored pigeonpea. These include three bruched species Callosobrochus chinensis, C.maculatus and C.analis, of which C.maculatus is the most important.
Seed coating with a thin film of edible oil to protect against insect damage is an age-old practice in India. Such treatment can protect the seed for about an year. In order to minimise storage losses and to avoid use of chemicals, pigeonpea seed should be processed and stored as dhal.
11. Quality Considerations of Pigeonpea:
Almost all the pigeonpea produced in the country is converted into dhal (split cotyledons) by dehulling the dry seed. The starch content of dhal ranges from 52 to 58 per cent with a mean of 54 per cent. The protein content of dhal range from 22 to 28 per cent with a mean of 25 per cent. Pigeonpea has the lowest values for methionine, cystine and tryptophane and amino acids among the pulses.
Utilisation:
Processing:
Processing of redgram is, generally, known as dal milling or dehulling. Milling means removal of the outer husk and splitting the grain into two equal halves. Dal milling is one of the major food processing industries in the country, next to rice milling. The efficiency of conversion of grain to dal by traditional methods of milling is low.
The average dal yield varies from 68-75 per cent by traditional methods. In modernising the dal milling industry, the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, has recommended improved method of dal milling.
The processing includes:
1. Cleaning.
2. Pre-conditioning.
3. Dehusking.
4. Lump breaking.
5. Conditioning.
6. Splitting.
Cleaning includes remove all impurities (dust, chaff, dirt, grits etc.) from redgram grains (whole) and separate according to size. Cleaning is done in rotary seed cleaners.
LSU type dryer is used to condition the clean redgram grains. Cleaned grains are passed twice through hot air at about 100°C for a certain period of time and tempered after each pass in the tempering bins for about six hrs. Preconditioning of redgram helps in loosening of husk.
After preconditioning, grains are dehusked. Pealer or dehusker is used to dehusk the preconditioned grains and almost all the grains are dehusked in a single operation. Dehusked whole redgram grains are separated from split redgram and mixture of husk, broken etc.
The dehusked whole grains are received in a screw conveyor where water is added at a controlled rate. The moistened grains are collected on the floor and allowed to remain as such for about half an hour. A lump breaker is used to break the lumps formed by some of the moistened whole grains.
The dehusked whole grains, after lump breaking are dried up to the proper moisture level in LSU type dryer. The hot conditioned and dried dehusked whole grains are splitted in emery roller. All the whole grains are not splitted in one pass. As such, grade T pulses, dehusked whole grains and small brokens are separated from the mixture. For subsequent splitting the unsplit dehusked grains are again fed to the conditioner.