Pigeonpea

• Botanical Name: Cajanus cajan
• Cajanus cajan flavus (Early maturing)
• Cajanus cajan bicolor (Late maturing)
• Family: Leguminaceae / Papilonaceae
• Chromosome No: 2n = 22
• Origin: Africa
• Pigeonpea is also called as Arhar, Tur and Red gram.
• Cajanus is derived from a Malay word ‘katschang’ or ‘katjang’ meaning pod or bean.
• Arhar crop works as mini fertilizer crop.
• After chickpea, arhar is the second most important pulse crop.
• The prominent pigeonpea growing states are Maharashtra (highest), MP, UP, Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat, AP and Tamil Nadu.

Climate

• Pigeon pea grows well under warm tropical and subtropical climate.
• During vegetative growth, crop prefers a fairly moist and warm climate.
• During flowering and ripening stage, it requires bright sunny weather for proper fruit setting.
• It is highly susceptible to frost at the time of flowering.
• Pigeonpea can be grown with a temperature ranging from 26° to 30°C in the rainy season (June to October) and 17° to 22°C in the post-rainy (November to March) season.
• The length of growing season extends from 120 to 180 days.
• It has the capacity to tolerate moisture stress to a greater extent because of its deep/tap rooted system.
• Alachlor and Pendimethaline (as pre-emergence) and Basalin (as postemergence) are used to control weeds in pigeonpea field.
• Protein content is 22 per cent.
• Hardy crop, most drought tolerant crop among major pulse. ⭐️
• It is an often-cross pollinated crop. An average cross pollination is 20 per cent. A plant produces many flowers of which only 10 per cent set pods.
• C₃, Short day plant.
• Seed germination is hypogeal type.
• Thermal energy is required to break the seed coat.

Soil

• It does best on light texture, fertile and well drained loamy soils.
• It requires a soil pH range of 5-8.
• The saline-alkaline (> 8 pH) and waterlogged soils are unfit for its cultivation.

Sowing

Sowing Time

• Medium-early Pegionpea: 1st fortnight of April (for double cropping)
• Late Pegionpea: 1st week of July
• Pre-rabi Pegionpea: Sept or October
• Punjab and Haryana: 1st week of June
• UP and Rajasthan: 2nd fortnight of June Seed Rate
• Early Pegionpea: 15-18 kg/ha
• Late Pegionpea: 10-15 kg/ha
• For bunds planting: 2 kg/ha

• Spacing: Common: 60 x 30 cm.
• Plant population for kharif is 55,000 plants/ha.
• Critical stage of Irrigation: Pre-flowering, Pod development

Comparison between Arhar and Tur

• Crop rotation: Pigeonpea is grown in summer as a Kharif crop in North India, and Kharif and Rabi in South India. The important crop rotations are:
  • Paddy – Paddy – Pigeonpea
  • Groundnut + Pigeonpea – Sorghum/Bajra/Maize
  • Groundnut – Rabi Pigeonpea
  • Urd bean – Rabi Pigeonpea
  • Soybean – Rabi Pigeonpea
  • Pigeonpea + Urd bean – Wheat
  • Mung bean – Pigeonpea
  • Pigeonpea – Cotton

Fertilizer

• N - 20-25 kg N/ha (Starter application)
• P - 50-65 kg P/ha
• K - 20-35 kg K/ha
• Zn - 2-4 ppm zinc (foliar applications of 0.5 per cent Zinc Sulphate)
• Ca - 0.25 per cent lime

Varieties of Pigeonpea released in India

Varieties of Pigeonpea with to different characters

• Earliest variety of Pigeonpea is UPAS-120.
• World’s first hybrid variety of Pigeonpea is ICPH-8, developed by ICRISAT, Hyderabad in 1991 by using genetic male sterility (GMS). This variety matures in 130 to 132 days with an average productivity of 20 qt/ha.

Disease

Insect-Pest

Yield

• Pigeon pea may yield about 20-25 quintals of grain and 50-60 quintals of sticks per hectare.
• In storage time grain moisture should be 10-11%.
• Proportion of seed to pod is 50-60 per cent.
• Harvest index (HI) is 19% (lowest among pulses).

Pigeonpea

• Botanical Name: Cajanus cajan
• Cajanus cajan flavus (Early maturing)
• Cajanus cajan bicolor (Late maturing)
• Family: Leguminaceae / Papilonaceae
• Chromosome No: 2n = 22
• Origin: Africa
• Pigeonpea is also called as Arhar, Tur and Red gram.
• Cajanus is derived from a Malay word ‘katschang’ or ‘katjang’ meaning pod or bean.
• Arhar crop works as mini fertilizer crop.
• After chickpea, arhar is the second most important pulse crop.
• The prominent pigeonpea growing states are Maharashtra (highest), MP, UP, Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat, AP and Tamil Nadu.

Climate

• Pigeon pea grows well under warm tropical and subtropical climate.
• During vegetative growth, crop prefers a fairly moist and warm climate.
• During flowering and ripening stage, it requires bright sunny weather for proper …

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