Cultivation and improvement of Pulses and forage legumes

Origin of Mung Crop:-

1. Introduction:-

·    Common Names:- Mung, Mungbean, Green Gram

·    Botanical Name:- Vigna radiata

Initially mung's botanical name was Phaseolus aureus, which was later changed to Vigna radiata by Wilczek.

·     Family:- Leguminosae or Fabaceae

·   Sub family:- Pepilionaceae

·     Chromosome Numbers:- 2n = 2x = 22

·     The root system of moong plant is deep which acts to bind soil particles. Thus it prevents soil erosion.

2. Center of origin:-

·     Moong is the origin of India.

·     Cultivated species is originated from a wild ancestor Vigna radiata var. sublobata.

3. Sub-species:- According to Bose (1932) Vigna radiata can be further divided into 40 different types. This classification is based on the shape of the leaf, the color of the flower, the color of the pod, and the color of the seed. The following characters or differences are found in them-

4. Pollination:-

Ø  Naturally, mung is a self-pollinated crop.

Ø  Flowers in mung open between 6 am to 8 am and remain opened till 11 am.

Ø  The dehiscence of the anthers occurs at 9 o'clock at night and the dehiscence is complete by 3 o'clock in the morning.

Ø  The cleistogamy is found in the flowers of mung, that is, both the stamens and carpels remain enclosed in petals of the flower. Therefore there is 100% self-pollination.

·     Fruit:- Pod or Legume which are 6 - 10 cm long. A pod contains 7 - 11 seeds. The seeds are dark green in colour.

Cultivation of Mung Crop:-

1. Introduction:- 

> Green gram (Phaseolus aureus Roxb) is important pulse crops.

> The grains (whole or split) are used as a pulse or made into flour, and into straw and husk as fodder for cattle.

> Grains are also eaten whole (after germinating them), parched, salted, with sugar or boiled with condiments.

> The important states producing this pulse are Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. 

2. Climate:- > The crop needs a well-distributed rainfall.

> Heavy rains at flowering are harmful, even moist winds at this stage interfere with fertilization.

3. Soil:-

> This pulse does best on deep, well-drained loams in the alluvial tract in the north as well as on the red and black soils of peninsular and southern India.

> It is also cultivated on light or shallow stony soils to clayey soils. 

4. Varieties:- 'T 1, 'T 44', 'Pusa Baisakhi', 'PS 7', 'PS 16,' 'S 8','S 9', 'Varsha (H70-16)' Hissar, ' G 65', ' Jawahar 45',' Kopergaon', ' ML 1','Ml 5',' ML 9' 

5. Cultivation:- > For the pure crop in the kharif season, the land is ploughed once or twice and harrowed to obtain a rough tilth.

> The summer crop can be sown dry in furrows in between the rows of the previous crop, followed by irrigation.

6. Sowing:- > The kharif crop is sown in June to July, and the rabi crop in September or October.

> The spring crop is to be sown by 15 February and harvested by the middle of May.

> The summer crop is sown by 15 April.

> The seed may be sown by broadcasting or it may be drilled in furrows behind a plough, or with a three-or four-coultered desi drill, in rows 20-30cm apart.

> The seed-rate varies from 15-20kg per hectare when sown alone and for mixed crop 2-6kg per hectare. 

7. Fertilizer:- > Manuring with 25-40kg per ha of phosphorus (P2O5) and 25kg per ha of nitrogen (N) should be given at the time sowing.

> Also seed treatment with biofertilizer viz. Rhizobium at the rate of 25gram per kg of seed is beneficial.

8. Irrigation:- > Being kharif crop green gram is not required irrigation unless there is dry spell during the kharif season.

> In summer irrigation should be given according to soil type. Irrigation interval should be 8-10 days in summer.

> Flowering and pod filling are the critical stages for irrigation. 9. Plant protection:- a. Pest Management:- i. Aphids:- > The nymphs and adults suck the sap.

> The affected leaves turns yellow, get wrinkled and distorted.

> The insect also exude honeydew on which fungus develops, rapidly covers the plant with sooty mould that interferes with the photosynthetic activity of the plant.

Control:- Spraying with 0.05% Endosulfan, 0.02% Phosphamidon, 0.03% Dimethoate, Methyl demeton or Thiometon control the pest effectively. ii. Thrips:- > The adults and nymphs feed on leaves.

> They scrape the epidermis and such the oozing sap. As a result, light brown patches appear on infested leaves.

> The affected leaves curl and become dry. Control:- Spraying with 0.05% Endosulfan, 0.02% Phosphamidon, 0.03% Dimethoate, Methyl demeton or Thiometon control the pest effectively.

iii. Pod borer:- > Caterpillars feed on tender foliage and young pods.

> They make holes in the pods and feed on developing seeds by inserting anterior half portion of their body inside the pods. Control:- > In early stage of attack handpicking of the caterpillars and their destruction.

> Ploughing fields after the harvest of crop would expose the pupae, which would be destroyed by birds.

> Spraying the crop with 0.05% Quinalphos or Fenitrohion can successfully control the pest.

> Spray with HaNPV @ 250 LE/ha.

b. Disease Management:- i. Leaf spot:- Angular brown or red spots, with grey or brown centre and reddish-purple border on leave, stalk and pods. Control:- Spray with Bordeaux mixture (5:5:50) or 0.2% Ziram. ii. Powdery mildew:- White powdery patches on leaves and other green parts, later becoming dull coloured and are studded with black dot. Control:- Dust the crop with finely powdered sulphur (200-mesh) @ 20kg/ha. 10. Harvesting and yield:- > To avoid loss because of the shattering of pods, the crop is harvested before it is dead ripe.

> One or two rounds of the picking of pods are also recommended to avoid losses because of the shattering.

> The plants are uprooted or cut with a sickle, are dried on the threshing-floor for a week or ten days and threshed by beating with sticks, and are winnowed with baskets.

> The average yield of grain from a pure crop varieties from 5-6q per ha, whereas yields up to 10-15q per ha.

Improvement of Mung Crop:-

1. Breeding Objectives:-

a. Higher Yield:- The yield in mung depends on the following factors-

i. Number of pods per plant

ii. Number of seeds per pod

iii. Size of pod

iv. Size of seed

b. Different maturity duration:-

Ø  To develop medium maturity period and high yielding varieties for dry farming.

Ø  To develop short maturity period and high yielding varieties for irrigated areas.

Ø  To develop short maturity period and high yielding varieties for waterlogged areas.

c. Diease Resistance:- Several types of diseases can occur in the mung crop which can cause economic loss. Developing resistance against these diseases is also objective of plant breeding.

i. Mungbean Yellow Mosaic Virus:- This is a serious disease.

ii. Mosaic mottle virus

iii. Leaf Crinkle Virus

iv. Leaf Curl Virus

v. Seed and Seedling rot

vi. Cercospora Leaf Spot

vii. Powdery mildew

viii. Anthracnose

d. Insect resistance:- Several types of insect pests can cause damage to the mung crop which leads to economic loss. Hence one objective is to generate resistance against these insect pests.

i. White fly:- It acts as a vector for Mungbean Yellow Mosaic Virus and Leaf Crinkle Virus.

ii. Leaf eating caterpillar

iii. Hairy caterpillar

iv. Semilooper

v. Tobacco caterpillar

vi. Aphids

vii. Jassids

viii. Pod borer

e. Better Quality:-

Ø  Mung seeds contain 25% protein.

Ø  Mung has the highest digestibility of all legumes.

Ø  Transfer of high methionine content from urd to mung.

Ø  High dhall recovery - 80% and above

Ø  Low hard seed

f. Non-shattering

g. High photosynthetic capacity

6. Breeding Methods:-

a. Introduction:-

b. Pure line Selection:- Several varieties of mung have been developed by pure line selection in local varieties.

·   Type 1

·   BR 2

·   Amrit

·   Krishna 11

·   RS 4

·   Co 1, 2, 3

·   Panna (B105)

·   G 65

·   Gujarat 1, 2

·   Shining mung 1

·   PS - 16

c. Hybridization:-

·   Jawahar 45

·    K – 851

·    KM – 1

·    ML – 1, 5, 131, 267

·    Mohini

·    Pant mung 1

·    Sabarmati

·     T 44, 55

d. Mutation Breeding:-

·     This method is also used to increase diversity in mung crops.

·     Both chemical and physical mutagens are useful.

·     Gamma rays are more effective than chemical mutagens for inducing chlorophyll and viable mutants.

e. Breeding for ideal plant type:- The following characters are found in an ideal mung plant type -