The National Pulses Research Centre at Vamban near here has demonstrated synchronised maturity and integrated harvesting in green gram and black gram crops.
So far, farmers were raising green gram and black gram but the duration of each crop is varied. The flowering pattern and consequent harvesting time was not simultaneous for both crops. “Farmers have to incur huge expenditure in terms of labour for harvesting the crops at different periods. But the simultaneous flowering period will enable them take up integrated harvest of both crops,” says A. Mahalingam, scientist of the Centre.
The Centre had introduced VBN (Gg) 2, a green gram variety, a decade ago. It has introduced ‘Vamban 8,’ a black gram variety. “Both VBN (Gg) 2 and ‘Vamban 8’ can be raised and harvested simultaneously,” says R.P. Gnanamalar, Head of the Centre. The black gram crop duration is 60 to 65 days and green gram is 70 to 75 days.
Both crops are resistant to diseases like yellow mosaic virus. The average yield would be 900 kg per hectare.
Farmers who visited the Centre said that they had not seen such tall green gram plants.
