Eco-physiology and Economics of Green Gram and Black Gram as Influenced by Sowing Dates in Tropical Summers

Abstract

Pulses occupy a unique position in the Indian diet because of the cheapest sources of vegetable protein and other important nutrients such as K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn and vitamins viz., thiamine, riboflavin and niacin (Singh, 2017). They are consumed as staple food in combination with cereals, however they have limiting amount of essential amino acids such as methionine, tryptophan and cysteine (Tiwari and Singh, 2012). Pulse crops are also known to increase soil fertility and consequently the productivity of succeeding crop (Ali et al., 2012). India is the largest producer and consumer of pulses in the world accounting for about 29 per cent of the world area and 19 per cent of the world's production. But, pulse productivity was only 441 kg/ha in 1950 that increased up to 689 kg/ha during