Everything you need to learn about gram cultivation, harvest and growth.
Origin of Gram (Chhola, Chana):
Bengal gram or chickpea is a native of Southern Europe and is still being grown there extensively. It is also an important food plant in Asia, Africa and Central America. Besides the Indian sub-continent, the crop is grown in Iran, Turkey, Central and South Africa Greece, Rumania, Egypt and some parts of Australia.
So far as India is concerned, UP, MP, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Bihar are the important gram-growing states, which together account for more than 90% of the total acreage. The average annual area under the crop in India is about 7-8 million hectares and the production of grain is about 4-5 million tonnes. Among other constituents, gram contains about 17% protein (on the basis of whole seed).
Gram (Cicer arieienum L.) is a small, much branched, annual herb, rarely more than 60 cm in height. Stem very much hair all over. Leaves even-pinnate alternate and stipulate. Leaflets are elliptic-ovate, and dentate. Stipules large, foliceous, strongly veined and deeply toothed. Flowers are solitary, axillary, small and bluish purple, Calyx oblique, gamosepalous, tubular, with 5 lanceolate teeth.
Corolla is short, papilionaceous, and standard; Petal is largest, covering the wing petals and the keel; wing petals are obliquely obovate and free; keel incurved. Stamens10 and diadelphous are anthers uniform. Ovary is superior, sessile and to many ovuled. Style is filiform, incurved, persistent and beardless, Stigma is capitated, Pod oblong and sessile, 2-seeded. Seeds are obovate or subglobose beaked and reddish brown, pale brown or often dark brown in colour.
Climate and Soil Required for Gram:
Gram is generally cultivated in India as a dry crop during the rabi season. It does best in areas having low to moderate rainfall and a mild winter. Too much of rain immediately after sowing or during flowering causes damage to the crop. Severe cold is also very injurious and sometimes it proves fatal. Hail-storms at the ripening time often bring about a great loss.
Gram is grown in all types of soils. Heavy and clay soils are considered good. In north India, the crop is commonly grown on light alluvial soils, which are not quite suitable for wheat. However, better soils are required for Kabuli varieties of gram. In the Southern parts of the country, the crop is grown on clay loams and black cotton soils.
Gram is grown either alone as a pure crop or as a mixed crop with wheat, barley, linseed, safflower or mustard. A mixed crop of gram is known to check its blight disease to a certain degree. When grown pure, gram is rotated with jowar, bajra, wheat, etc., and occasionally with rice or jute. In the south, irrigated gram is rotated with onion, sweet potatoes, irrigated wheat, jowar or rice.
Cultivation of Gram:
While the land is prepared as in the case of wheat, no attempt is made to have a fine tilth. The soil is generally left somewhat cloddy. Usually, two ploughings with desi plough, followed by harrowing, are considered enough.
Manuring and Fertilization:
No manure is generally applied although phosphorus is known to increase the yield of grain. If a phosphatic fertilizer is applied, it should be placed a little below or to the side of the seed Application of phosphate and nitrogen at the rates of 25-45 kg and 15 kg per hectare respectively is beneficial to the crop.
Sowing:
Sowing of seed is done in rows, from mid-October to the beginning of November, with the help of a drill or by dropping seed in furrows behind a desi plough. Seed is sometimes sown by broadcasting. Deep sowing of seed (7-10 cm deep) is better than shallow sowing since the former method has been found to reduce the incidence of wilt. The seed rate varies from 55 to 100 kg per hectare, depending on the area and also the seed size. Gram is sometimes sown as a pair crop in standing paddy when 3-5 cm of water is present in the field.
Weeding and intercultural operations are rarely undertaken. One interculturing has, however, been found beneficial.
Gram can tolerate drought like other pulse crops, but judicious application of water has been found to benefit the crop. Two or three shallow- irrigations may be given when there is acute drought. In the Deccan area, gram raised as an irrigated crop receives three or four irrigations in the whole season.
Pruning of branches is a common practice in gram-growing areas. Tips of plants are nipped and this encourages branching and flowering.
Harvesting and Yield:
The crop takes about 5 months or a little more to mature in Punjab and UP and 4 months or less in the southern region. Harvesting is done when leaves become reddish brown, dry up and start shedding. The plants are pulled out or cut with the help of a sickle. When the harvested plants become quite dry, threshing is done by either beating them with sticks or by trampling them by bullocks. Winnowing is generally done with winnowing baskets. The average yield of the unirrigated crop is 500 – 600 kg of grain and 800 – 1,000 kg of dry fodder per hectare. Under irrigated conditions, 1,500 – 2,000 kg of grain is commonly obtained.
Uses of Gram:
Gram is consumed in several ways, as dal or besan (flour), boiled, parched, roasted or cooked, salted or unsalted or as sweet preparations. Green leaves and grains are also consumed as vegetables. Some parts of the plant have medicinal properties. Germinated seeds are useful for curing scurvy disease. Green leaves contain malic and oxalic acids, which are prescribed for treating intestinal disorders. The grain and husk are good for feeding horses and cattle, the former as concentrate and the latter as roughage.
Varieties of Gram:
Varieties differ in colour of grain, which may be white yellow, brown and black. A good number of improved varieties of gram have been developed by breeders in India and recommended for different states.
Some of them are indicated below:
Diseases of Gram:
Important diseases which commonly attack gram are:
(i) Wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum var. ciceri, which can be controlled by late sowing, deep ploughing and by growing resistant varieties.
(ii) Blight caused by Mycosphaerella rabiei, (Ascochyta rabiei) which can be controlled by growing resistant varieties, practising crop sanitation and rotation and seed treatment with Thiram (5g /kg).
(iii) Dry root rot caused by Macrophomina phaseoli, which can be controlled by growing resistant varieties.
(iv) Root rot caused by Opercullela padwickii, which can be controlled by roguing out affected plants.
(v) Rust caused by Uromyces ciceris arielini, which can be controlled by growing resistant varieties.
(vi) Collar rot caused by Sclerotium rolfsii, which can be controlled by long crop rotation and soil drench with Chloronob (20 kg/ha).
Mention may be made here of the encouraging results obtained as a result the work done in India in connection with breeding for disease resistance. A few of the promising varieties developed are Pusa 212, JG 315, G 543 BG 244, Avrodhi and ICCC 32 (Kabuli), possessing resistance to wilt, and Gaurav, C 235 and GNG 146, possessing resistance Ascochyta blight.
Insect Pests of Gram:
Among the insect pests, the important ones are:
(i) Gram caterpillar (Heliothis armigera), which can be controlled by spraying Endosulfan (0.05%) or dusting Carbaryl (4%).
(ii) Cutworm (Agrotis ipsilon and A. flammatra), which can be controlled by raking into soil 5% Aldrin or Heptachlor and dusting the crop with 10% BHC.
(iii) Aphid (Aphis crassivora and A. medicagenis), which can be controlled by spraying 0.03% Dimethoate, Dicrotophos or Phosphamidon.
(iv) Pea semi-looper (Plasia orichalcea), which can be controlled by hand picking the larvae, dusting 10% BHC or spraying 0.05% Endosulfan.