Blackgram

History

Introduction Origin And Spread Area and Production

Introduction

Botanical Name: Vigna mungo

Family: Leguminoseae.

  • Vigna mungo is an important pulse crop grown throughout India.
  • It is grown in an area of about three million hectares in India.
  • Annual production of urdbean in India is about 1.3 million tonnes.
  • It is mainly used as 'dal' and in preparation of many dishes in our diet.
  • In southern parts of the country, it is used in preparation of some special dishes.
  • It is very rich in protein containing about 25 per cent protein in its seed and is the richest in phosphoric acid among pulses.
  • Besides, this green fodder of urdbean is very nutritive and is specially useful for milch cattle.
  • It can also be used as green manure.
  • It also acts as cover crop and its deep root system protects the soil from erosion.
  • Urdbean being leguminous has the capacity to fix atmospheric nitrogen and thus helps in restoring the soil fertility.

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Origin And Spread

  • Urd or black gram is a native of India and originated from Phaseolus sublobatus, a wild plant.
  • There is a mention of urd in vedic texts such as Kautilya's Arthasasthra' and 'Charak Samhita'.
  • From India it spreads to many countries like African, European, American and Asian countries.
  • It has become a popular pulse crop in Pakistan, India, Bangldesh, Burma, Ceylon, and most of the African countries.
  • In India, blackgram is very popularly grown in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana and Karnataka.

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Area and Production

Districtwise Area, Production & Productivity of Blackgram in Telangana 2012-13

Year

Area in hectares

Production in tonnes

Productivity in Kgs/hect

1

2

3

4

Mahaboobnagar 12218 1166 957
Rangareddy 4918 3329 677
Medak 15327 13840 903
Nizamabad 11475 10909 951
Adilabad 7939 9882 1245
Karimnagar 4421 3527 798
Warangal 1699 1361 801
Khammam 6280 6073 967
Nalgonda 3073 1374 447

Source: Season and Crop Report, Govt of Andhrapradesh (erstwhile)

 

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Telangana