Lentil Production
Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) may have been one of the first agricultural crops grown more than 8,500 years ago. Production of this cool season annual crop spread from the Near East to the Mediterranean area, Asia, Europe and the Western Hemisphere. It grows well in limited rainfall areas of the world. Lentil is a pulse (grain legume) crop, popularly known as Mahsur Dal or Musuri Dal in the Indian subcontinent. download full details here
Soybean Production
Soybean (Glycine max) is an important crop all over the world. There is some confusion regarding the origin of soybean although North-eastern China is generally considered as the original home. In Chinese records it is considered to be the most important legume and also one of the five sacred grains – rice, soybean, wheat, barley and millet essential for existence of Chinese civilization. download full details here
Urdbean Production
Mungbean (Vigna radiata) and Urdbean (Vigna mungo) are important pulse crops. Both are important short duration grain legume crops with wide adaptability, low input requirement and have the ability to improve soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen. There is often confusion between mungbean and urdbean, the two being different only at the species (radiata and mungo) level. What our farmers traditionally grow in the southern foothills is actually Urdbean, but we are used to calling it Mungbean (the same way we say Orange for Mandarin). There are many local varieties of Urdbean but none in Mungbean. Again, there are no improved varieties of Urdbean, but there are two improved varieties of Mungbean (Bari Mung 2 and KPS-2) released from RDC Wengkhar.
Mungbean is also known as green gram and serve are a major source of dietary protein. The nutritive value of both urdbean and mungbean lies in its high and easily digestible protein, and contain approximately 25-28% protein,1.0% oil, 3.5-4.5% fiber, 4.5-5.5% ash and 62-65% carbohydrates on dry weight basis. Methionine concentration is larger in urdbean than in mungbean. Urdbean is also known as black gram. The seed colour can be either black or yellow. High values of lysine make urdbean and mungbean an excellent complement to rice in terms of balanced human nutrition.
The mung bean resembles the black gram but there are differences: the corolla of Vigna mungo is bright yellow while that of Vigna radiata is pale yellow; mung bean pods are pendulous (hanging) whereas they are erect in black gram. Mung bean is slightly less hairy than black gram. download full details here