BLACK GRAM

Scientific name: Vigna mungo L. Hepper

Family: Fabaceae (previously known as Leguminoseae)
Chromosome number: 2n=24 (Diploid species)
 Economic importance & uses:
• Black gram (urd bean/mungo/mash/black maple) is consumed as
dal (whole or split seeds, either husked or unhusked) or parched.
• Urd bean is the chief constituent of “papad” and also of “bari”
(spiced balls) which makes delicious curry.
• Haulms of urd bean are used as fodder. Husk and split beans are
also used as livestock feed.
• The black gram plants have deep root system, bind soil particles and
prevent erosion. It is also used as green manure crop.
• Black gram seeds contains 24-25% protein, 1.83% fat, 61%
carbohydrate, vitamins like thiamin, niacin etc. and minerals like Ca,
K and Fe. The seeds are very rich source of phosphoric acid.
• Urd differs from other pulses in its peculiarity of attaining when
ground up with water, a somewhat mucilaginous character giving
additional body to the mass.
• In the south, the husked dal is grounded into a fine paste and
allowed to ferment and is then mixed with equal quantity of rice
flour to make dosa and Idli.
• Black gram seeds are also fried to serve as “savory dish”. Urd dal is
also used in the preparation of “halwa, imarti and vada in
combination with other food grains.
 Origin and distribution:
• India is considered as primary centre of origin and Central Asia as
the secondary centre of origin of black gram.
• According to Zokovskij (1962), black gram originated in India from
its wild progenitor “Phaseolus sublobatous”.
• In India, domestication of black gram may have occurred about
4500 years ago.
• Distribution of urd bean is comparatively restricted to tropical
regions i.e., India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Srilanka.
• In north India, black gram is grown in kharif season and pre-kharif
season only. But in south India, black gram is grown in all the three
seasons.
• States extensively cultivating black gram in India are Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh
and Odisha.
 Classification:
• According to Bose (1932), Vigna mungo (black gram) is subdivided
into two subspecies.
1. Vigna mungo var. niger: It includes varieties which mature early
and seeds are of black colour.
2. Vigna mungo var. viridis: It includes varieties having longer
maturity period. Seeds are of small size and green colour.
• A number of types with distinguishing characters on the basis of
seed colour, flower colour and pod colour are met with.
• The seed colour may be black or green. The colour of ripe pods
range from buff or brown or dark brown.
 Area, production and productivity:
• It is the 4th most important pulse crop of India after chickpea, field
pea and greengram.
• In world, blackgram production is about 23.4 lakh tonnes annually
from 46.7 lakh hectares of area with an average productivity of 501
kg/ha in 2020-21 (agricoop.nic.in).
• India is the largest producer and consumer of blackgram. Blackgram
output accounts for about 10% of India’s total pulse production.
• In India, blackgram is grown in an area of about 3.5 million ha with
a total production of 1.7 million tonnes with an average
productivity of 486 kg/ha.
• Andhra Pradesh leads with highest area and production among the
states followed by Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra.
• Karnataka leads with highest productivity followed by Odisha and
Andhra Pradesh.
• In Andhra Pradesh, area under black gram is 2.95 lakh ha with a
Production of 2.14 lakh tonnes and productivity of 726 kg/ha.
 Botanical description
• It is an herbaceous, annual plant attaining a height of 30-100 cm.
• The stem is slightly ridged, covered with brown hairs and much
branched from the base.
• The leaves are large, trifoliate and are also hairy, generally with a
purplish tinge. The colour of leaves is green to dark green. The
leaflets are 5-10 cm long, broad, ovate and entire. Stipules are
small.
• The inflorescence consists of a cluster of 5 to 6 flowers at the top of
a long hairy peduncle. Calyx bracts are linear and exceeding the
calyx. There are 5 sepals and 5 petals. Stamens 9 in a whorl and 1
separately, style is hairy and spirally twisted.
• The pods are long and cylindrical being about 4-6 cm in length.
• There are 4 to 10 seeds in a pod. The seeds are generally black or
very dark brown or olive black and rarely green and oblong shaped.
The split seed of black gram is white in colour. Hilum is concave.
• The germination of seed is of epigeal type. Self pollination and self
fertilisation are the general rules in black gram. The flowers black
gram start opening early in the morning and are completely open
between 7 am to 8 am.
• The anthers begin to shed pollen in the evening and pollination is
completed by midnight.
 Climatic requirement:
• Generally, black gram is grown in areas which receives annual
rainfall of 800 mm. It is a hardy and drought resistant plant and can
be grown in areas receiving 650 cm annual rainfall.
• Black gram requires a hot and humid growing season. Optimum
temperature for better growth ranges between 25-35ºC but it can
tolerate upto 42ºC.
• Urd can be grown successfully from sea level up to an elevation of
1800 m.
• Heavy rains during flowering stage are harmful and adversely affect
the production.
• Urd bean is grown as kharif and summer or pre-kharif crop in north
India but in south and south west India, it is also grown in all the
three seasons.
 Soil requirement:
• Urd bean does well on heavy soils such as black cotton soils which
retain moisture better.
• However, it can be grown on all types of soils ranging from sandy
loam to heavy clay, except the alkaline and saline soils.
• Well drained Loam or sandy loam or slightly heavy soils are best
suited for urd cultivation.
• Optimum soil pH range is 5.5 to 7.5.
 Recommended Varieties:
• In kharif: LBG-20, LBG-623, WBG-26, T-9 (in Andhra Pradesh), IPU
0243, WBU 108 (Odisha & Karnataka), IPU 94-1 or Uttara (West
Bengal)
• In rabi (in rice fallow) : Krishna, LBG-611, LBG-22, LBG-648, LBG-
685, LBG-645 (in Andhra Pradesh), OBG 17, Mash 338 (in Odisha),
KU 92-1 or Azad Urd 1 (in West Bengal)
• Varieties resistant to yellow mosaic virus (YMV): UG-218, Pant-U19,
DPV 88-31
• Varieties resistant to downy mildew: LBG-17, LBG-402, LBG-22, LBG-
611.
• Pusa-1: It is a hybrid evolved through hybridization between L-151 ×
Type-9. The crop takes 80-90 days to mature. The plants are
medium tall and semi spreading. The pods are medium long, 5 to 6
seeded and hairy. The seed or grain yield potential is 1.2 to 1.5 t/ha.
It is resistant to yellow mosaic virus (YMV). This variety is suitable
for cultivation in Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
 Crop improvement in black gram:
• During pre-independence period (1931-1947), the mode of urd
bean improvement was restricted to selections of natural
germplasm.

• In 1948, a variety Type-9 was released and become very popular

variety even today. Under all India co-ordinated research project,
hybrids like Pant Urd 19, Pant Urd 31, TMV 1, Neelam were
released and some disease resistant varieties like UPU 2, NP 16, NP
21, PLU 340 were also released in India during that period.
 Field preparation:
• Field is prepared by one ploughing with mould board plough and followed
by two to three cross harrowings each followed by planking.
• The field should be well levelled and free from weeds.
• To ensure good germination of seeds, a pre-sowing irrigation should be
given.

Seed and sowing:

• Time of sowing:
a) Kharif: Sowing is done with the onset of monsoon in the 2nd fortnight of
June to 1st fortnight of July
b) Rabi: In south-west and south India, it should be sown in October-
November.
c) Pre-kharif: The sowing could be done from the 3rd week of February to 1st
week of April.
• Seed treatment: Seeds should be treated with Thiram @ 2.5 g/kg seed
then with rhizobium culture is important. Rhizobium strains like BMBSP
47, DH-2, KU-1 and BDNF can increase the seed yield of urd.
• Seed rate:
For kharif crop, 15-18 kg/ha
For rabi crop, 18-20 kg/ha
For pre-kharif crop, 20-25 kg/ha
For rice fallow, 40-45 kg/ha
• Spacing:
In kharif: 45 cm × 10 cm
In rabi: 30 cm × 5 cm
In pre-kharif: 30 cm × 5 cm
In dibbling: 30 x 10 cm. On wet land bunds, dibble the seeds at 30 cm R to R
spacing.
• In Andhra Pradesh (in rice fallows), black gram broadcasting is done in the standing
crop of rice 3-4 days before the harvest uniformly at optimum moisture condition.
• Method of sowing:
Line sowing through the seed sowing behind the plough (kera and pora method) or
seed drilling or dibbling
• Plant population:
60-100 plants/m² in pre-kharif and rabi season and 40 plants/m² in kharif season
are the optimum plant populations of black gram
 Fertilizer application:
• Rainfed condition: 10 kg N/ha (as starter dose or booster dose) + 25
kg P₂O₅/ha as basal
• Irrigated condition: 20 kg N/ha (as starter dose or booster dose) +
50 kg P₂O₅/ha as basal
• If soil test facilities are not available, 30-40 kg/ha K₂O can be
applied with above mentioned recommended doses.
• The fertilizer should be applied either at the time of sowing or just
before sowing (i.e., 24 hours before sowing) in such a way that
fertilizers are placed about 5-7 cm below the seed.
 Water management:
• Irrigation is not required for kharif crop.
• For rabi crop:
Irrigate immediately after sowing followed by life saving irrigation
on third day.
Irrigate the crop at an interval of 10-15 days depending on the soil
moisture.
Flowering and pod formation are most critical period related to soil
moisture stress.
Avoid water stagnation at all crop growth stages.
Apply KCl at 0.5% as foliar spray during vegetative stage if there is
moisture stress.
 Weed management:
• One to two hand weeding should be done up to 45 DAS depending
upon the weed intensity (1st weeding at 20-25 DAS & 2nd weeding at
40-45 DAS).
• Pre-emergence application of Alachlor (Lasso) @ 1.5 kg a.i./ha.
• Fluchloralin (Basalin) @ 1.5 Kg a.i/ha in 800-1000 litres of water as
pre-plant incorporation (PPI) or pendimethalin @2.0 lit/ha as pre-
emergence at 3 DAS followed by one hand weeding 30 DAS.
• Imazethapyr @100 g/ha applied at 10-15 DAS or @125 g/ha at 25
DAS are most effective.
 Harvesting & Threshing:
• Crop comes to maturity at 80-95 DAS. Upon ripening, black gram
pods turn from green to yellow and then to black.
• Over maturity leads to shattering of pods.
• In case of irrigated crop, ripened pods can be collected in one or
two pickings. If plants come to even harvest, then plants are cut and
spread on threshing field to dry. The plants will dry and become
black and pods start splitting.
• The plants are then beaten using sticks and separate seeds from
pods followed by winnowing to remove debris.
 Yield:
• Rainfed: 600-700 kg/ha
• Irrigated: 1000-1300 kg/ha
• Rice follows: 500 kg/ha

Processing:
• Dal milling: Dal milling is one of the major food processing industry
and a there is net loss of 10-15% during milling.
• Pulsing: Snack food prepared by heating and toasting/pulsing.

Cropping systems:
In south India: paddy-black gram (in winter), paddy-paddy-black gram
(in winter), black gram - Maghi Jowar (in Khammam), black gram –
tobacco (in black cotton soils)
In north India: maize - wheat – black gram (in summer), maize – potato
– black gram (in summer), paddy – wheat – black gram (in summer).
Production constraints of black gram:
• Moisture stress: Generally, kharif sown crop suffers from moisture
stress due to intermittent dry spell during the growth phase.

• Pre -harvest sprouting: Kharif sown crops mature in August or

September. Usually crop is caught in rains at the time of harvest.
Hence, there is a sprouting of seeds in the pods attached to the
plants causing heavy losses both in terms of yield and quality.

• Non-synchronous maturity: It is usually harvested by picking. Most

of the varieties are non synchronous in maturity. Hence, harvesting
is done in 2-3 pickings.

• Susceptible to diseases: Major diseases in black gram are yellow

Mosaic virus , leaf crinkle, powdery mildew.
Thank you