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BRAC Pulses Progrmme & its Activities

Up until now ‘Agriculture sector’ of Bangladesh is the cornerstone of its economic, social, cultural and all major developments. However, the productivity of this sector, particularly domestic food production except rice has been static or declining during the last one decade. The total production and average yield of food crops cultivated in Bangladesh besides rice during the last decade do not allow any significant upward trend. Due to the unsatisfactory performance of the agriculture, a huge amount of money is spent annually to import food, most of which can be produced locally as we have vast plane land, good riverine network, suitable agro-climatic conditions for growing different crops, hard working groups of enthusiastic people and huge plant genetic resources etc.

Pulses are important world food crops because they provide an inexpensive source of vegetable dietary protein and traditionally pulses are called as ‘poor man’s meat’. In many densely populated areas of the world, the economy does not support large-scale production and utilization of animal protein in those areas and pulses are usually consumed as dietary protein. Nevertheless protein in people’s diets may be augmented by supplementation with the protein rich pulse grains. In addition to being less expensive than animal protein, pulse grains provide a source of rich protein for those people who prefer vegetable to animal protein in their diet for cultural or religious reasons. Pulse grain proteins nutritionally complement the proteins in cereal grains as well when combined and a diet nutritionally balanced in protein may be enjoyed.

As stated above the agro climatic condition of Bangladesh is very much suitable for growing different pulse crops and pulses play a significant role in Bangladeshi rain fed agriculture. These are relatively short duration crops and also provide support to the agro-processing industries besides their utilization in making different homemade food products. Among various pulses, mung bean, lentil, chick pea, black gram, grass pea etc. are the major ones and they contribute more than 95% of the total pulses production in the country. Mung bean is cultivated during the Kharif-1 and Kharif-2 season. Lentil, grass pea, chick pea, field pea are cultivated during the winter seasons while black gram is cultivated during the Kharif-2 season. In Bangladesh food legumes are traditionally cultivated under rain fed condition, usually without any or minimum inputs. The productivity of these crops are low compared to wheat and rice. Their inherently low yield potential, susceptibility to diseases and pest and sensitivity to micro climatic changes contribute to their yield instability. Again, since Bangladesh has an acute shortage of food grain production, cereal cultivation receives top priority. So the area and production of some legumes, such as lentil, chick pea and mung bean have been decreased over the last decade. Under such situation, recently thrust was placed on legumes to develop improved varieties and to explore how to fit in the existing cropping systems so as to halt the declining trend in area and production. From this perspective a pulse programme was launched by BRAC during the year 2000 and seed production as well as variety development programme was initiated to increase the pulse production of Bangladesh.

Table.1. Targeted pulse crops and BRAC activities

Different pulse

Year Activities Achievement Remarks

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cropsMung bean

2000-present

Crop improvement

Development of new varieties/lines

One promising yellow seeded mung bean line has been developed from local germplasms which is under the process of release and 3 more green seeded promising advance lines developed from AVRDC germplasms is in the pipe line .

2000-2002

Variety screening & seed production

Seven commercial varieties collected from BARI & BINA were evaluated & among them one variety BARI mung-2 was recommended for seed production

10 metric tons of BARI mung-2 was produced during the year 2001-2002 through contract growers and collected seeds were distributed to the farmers in the following year.

Lentil 2000 – 2002 &2015-present

Variety screening & seed production

Variety screening & foundation seed production

A forty Kg foundation seed of BARImashur-2 and 288 Kg of foundation seeds of BARImashur-4 was produced for their distribution among the growers. Last year 7.5 metric tons of certified seeds of BARImashur-3 have been produced.

Field pea

2008-present

Variety screening

Variety screening & identification of promising variety.

One short duration improved type BARI released field pea BARImotor-3 was identified as suitable variety after T. Amon rice harvesting and one exotic variety “Ganga-Jamuna” having larger fruit size having increased no. of seeds/fruit has also been found promising.

Cowpea 2010- present

Crop improvement

One advance line have been produced.

One advance line developed from local germplasms has been found to be superior than BARI released variety BARI felon-1..

Chick pea

2001 – 2002

Variety screening

Six chick pea varieties obtained from BARI and BINA were evaluated.

BARIchola-2 & BINAchola-1 was identified as suitable varieties for commercial cultivation.

Mung beanAmong the different types of pulses cultivated in Bangladesh mung bean holds the

second position with respect to area coverage as well as production. Besides its use as delicious ‘Dhal’ now it is being used as the raw material by the Food Production Companies for making confectionary products like ‘Dhal Bhaja’ ‘Papad’ etc. As a result cultivation of mung bean has increased significantly in Bangladesh for the last two decades. But despite a

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good number of mung bean has been released by the national level research institute BARI and BINA, almost all the varieties require more than one picking for their fruit harvesting and since labour cost has risen in recent times considerably the mung bean grower are facing difficulty to grow this high value crop. So, short duration variety having determinate type plants which can be harvested at one time is the demand of the hour.

Considering the importance of mung bean as pulse crop and its soil improving capability a seed production programme was started by BRAC during the year 2000-01. Side by side in the same year an initiative was also taken to develop short duration photo-insensitive type good quality mung bean variety at BARDC in the same year.

Seed Production In the year 2000-2001 a production target plan of only 40 metric tons of certified

seed of mung bean was fixed and Magura region was selected for the production of certified seed. One of the most popular BARI released mung bean variety BARImung-2 was selected for seed production and its certified seeds were produced at 4 locations of the region, Magura Sadar, Sreepur, Hatgopalpur and Kotchandpur. In all the production centers good crop was established and the farmers were very much satisfied with the mung bean seeds supplied by BRAC. At the end of the season out of 40 metric tons 9.50 metric tons of certified seed of BARImung-2 was produced in Kotchandpur only (Table.2 & 3).

Table. 2. Production target of certified seeds of mungbean during the year 2000-2001. Sl.no. Location Crop Variety Land

(Acre)Farmers Certified seed

(MT)1 Magura

Sadar, Sreepur, Hatgopalpur & Kotchandpur

Mung bean

BARImung-2 80 240 40

Table.3. Report of mung bean seed production at Kotchandpur (as of June’2001).Sl. no.

Location Crop No. of farmers

Land(Acre)

Founda-tionseed received

Produc-tion target(Kg)

Seedpurcha-sed(Kg)

Rate Taka

1 Kotchandpur

Mung bean

108 40.59 355 20,000 9,511.50 23.50 2,23,411

Table.4. Target Plan of Certified Seed Production of Mung bean (2001- 02).Sl. no.

Pulse crop

No.of varieties

Variety Land (Acre)

No. of farmers

Required founda-tion seed

Certified seed (Kg)

1. Mung 2 BARImung-2 60.00 180 - 20,000

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bean2. Mung

beanBARImung-5 25.00 75 - 10,000

Total - 2 110.5 332 - 40,000

Variety developmentBRAC has developed a short duration yellow seeded line from the local mung bean germplasms after conducting research on mung bean which actually started during the year 2000-2001. This advance line can be cultivated almost throughout the year and it has better taste besides its attractive seed luster. Compared to BARI & BINA varieties this yellow seeded mung bean gave also higher yield in different experiments as well (Table. 5 & Table. 6).

Fig.1. A fruiting mung bean plant of YS-I. Fig.2. Seeds of YS-1.

Table. 5. Mean values of plant characters of Yellow seed coat-I (YS-1) & BARImung-5 (grown at BARDC).Plant Characters YS-I BARI-5Plant height (cm) 25.90 ± 2.98

(21.00 - 32.00)27.08 ± 4.18

(21.00 - 34.00)No. of branches/plant 1.60 ± 0.54

(1.00 - 2.00)1.46 ± 0.57(1.00 - 3.00)

No. of leaves/plant 14.90 14.20Petiole length (cm) 9.18 ±1.34

(6.5 - 10.08)9.93 ± 1.24

(9.00 - 12.20)Leaflet length (cm) 7.40 ± 0.84

(6.00 - 9.00)9.93 ± 1.13

(7.50 -12.30)Leaflet width (cm) 6.24 ± 0.79 7.73 ±1.08

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(4.80 -7.50) (4.30 -10.00)Leaflet L/W ratio 1.17 ± 0.17

(1.00 - 1.30)1.25 ± 0.13(1.10 - 1.50)

Distance nodes bearing pod clusters (cm)

2.53 ± 1.20(1.00 - 4.00)

4.05 ± 2.24(1.00 - 6.20)

Days taken to 1st flowering 31.00 32.00Days taken to 1st

harvesting47.00 49.00

No. of pod clusters/Plant

10.50 ± 2.26(8.00 -15.00)

7.93 ± 2.63(4.00 -13.00)

Total no. of fruits/plant 36.73 ± 13.58(16.00 - 66.00)

21.03± 6.98(11.00 - 41.00)

Fruit length (cm) 8.07 ± 0.49(7.50 - 8.80)

9.58 ± 0.50(8.94 -10.47)

No. of seeds/ fruit 11.66 ± 0.68(10.40-12.80)

10.83 ± 1.48(8.50-12.30)

100-seed wt. (gm) 4.46 ± 0.40(4.16 - 5.16)

5.80 ± 0.28(5.21- 6.13)

Husk wt./plant (gm) 3.51 ± 0.96(1.62-5.88)

3.01 ± 0.79(1.61-4.87)

Seed-husk wt. ratio 3.00 ± 0.59(2.35-5.83)

2.43 ± 0.70(1.28-5.51)

Pod wt. (gm) 13.69 ± 3.63(6.50 - 20.50)

10.28 ± 2.86(6.61-16.43)

Harvest Index (%) 47.44 ± 5.75(30.00-56.00)

39.70 ± 9.06(17.00-58.00)

Seed yield/plant (gm) 10.44 ± 2.73(4.61 - 16.96)

7.85 ± 2.31(4.10 -12.63)

Yield/acre (Kg) 545.00 485.00Duration of the crop 58.00 65.00

Characteristic features of newly developed yellow seeded mung bean variety• Uncommon attractive golden yellow coloured seed (carotene content=3.32

mg/100gm).• Short duration improved line; determinate type light green coloured bushy plant

hence crop can be harvested from 56 – 57 DAS and can be grown after harvesting early boro rice variety (Last week of March – Middle of April). Relatively synchronized fruit ripening and fruits can be harvested at a time at least in Kharif-2 season.

• Moderate size uniform drum shaped seed. • Tolerant to major diseases (MMV & CLS).• Insensitive to seasonal influence and can be grown almost throughout the year.• Good cooking quality and less turmeric is required for cooking due to yellow

coloured cotyledons and its preparations are very tasteful.

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• Moderate size fruits and its production are around 1.50 - 2.00 metric tons per hectare under proper management system.

• Increased market price (2-3 Tk. per Kg) and due to its better quality growers preserve this variety for own family consumption.

• Growing this variety after Boro season rice mung bean plants can be trampled with the soil for soil amelioration before growing T. Amon rice.

• Cropping intensity can be increased significantly due to its short duration nature and continuous supply of mung bean in the processing industry can be ensured through sequential harvesting.

Table 6. Studies on yield related characters of YS-I and 2 check varieties of mung bean grown in the

Kharif season-2 of 2011 .

Name of the line/variety

Days taken to 1st flowe-ring

Plant height/plant(cm)

No. of bran-ches/Plant

No. of pod clusters/plant

Total no. of pods/plant

Pod length/pod(cm)

1000-seed wt.(g)

Yield/ha (Kg)

Crop matu-rity

Cropdura-tion

Yield increase over check

YS-I 28.00 41.18±4.23(32.00-45.00)

1.50±0.82(1.00-3.00)

4.40±0.70(4.00-6.00)

21.90±7.31(14.00-38.00)

7.60±0.39(7.40-8.90)

38.50±0.04(38.10-38.90)

1045.00 45.00 62.00 51.23%-increa-sed than BARI-mung-5 & 92.09%

BARI-mung-5

30.00 47.91±6.46(35.00-58.00)

1.10±0.32(1.00-2.00)

5.0±1.07(4.00-7.00)

21.0± 7.83(13.00-39.00)

8.50±2.34(7.80-10.10)

59.20±0.21(57.00-61.30)

691.00 53.00 70.00 increa-sed than BINA-mung-6 &

BINA -mung-7

33.00 50.25±6.0(39.00-58.00)

3.60±1.84(0-6.00)

7.70±3.13(4.00-14.00)

28.90± 4.55(16.00-58.00)

6.30±0.75(5.70-8.40)

38.60±0.21(36.70-40.90)

544.00 59.00 74.00 -

In addition to the yellow seeded variety, after the evaluation and continued selection from advance lines of the materials received from Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre (AVRDC) 3 promising green seeded mung bean lines ( 2- bold seeded type and 1- small seeded type) have also been isolated. Performances of these lines have been presented in the table below (Table.7):Table.7. Performance trial of promising AVRDC mung bean lines during the Kharif-2 season of 2014.

Name of Lines

Plant height (cm)

No. of bran-ches/Plant

Days to 1st flow-ering

Days to 1st pick-ing

Total No. of fruits/ plant

Pod length(cm)

1000-seed wt.(gm)

Seed yield/ plant(gm)

Cropdura-tion(DAS)

Virus inci-dence(%)

Yield/ ha (Mt)

Remarks

YS-I(BRAC variety)

40.70(37.5-43.5)

2.50(15.-3.5)

29.00 48.00 36.20(32.50-

41)

7.7(7.5-8.25)

40.81 12.50(10.50-14.50)

57.00 2.45(6.7-10.20)

1.20 Yellow seeded & moderate seed size

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No. -05 (AVMU 0001)

56.5(51.5-61.5)

1.70(1.5-2)

33.00 51.00 31 (24.50-

44)

10.8(10-11.5)

70.78 16(13-21)

71.00 1.85(1.80-1.90)

0.965 Uniform crop

maturity

No.-04 (AVMU 9701)

56.30(52.5-

61)

1.80(1-2)

29.00 50.00 28.30(22.50-29.5)

9.25(8.4-9.8)

36.00 13.40(9-18.50)

67.00 1.35(10.5-12.20)

1.032 Small seeded type

AVRDC lineNo. -07 (AVMU 0201)

47.70(45-

50.50)

1.30(0-2)

29.00 45.00 18.60 (15.5—21.5)

10.22(9.8-

10.55)

57.98 10.30(8.50-16.50)

65.00 5.35(5.1-5.6)

1.049 Early matured line

BARI-06 53.80(51-57)

1.70(1-3)

30.00 48.00 24.3(16.5-29)

10.8(10.3-12.5)

49.05 12.40(9-18)

67.00 8.8(6.4-11.25)

0.821 BARI released high

yielding variety

BARI-05 60(55-65)

1.55(1-2)

33.00 51.00 26.6(22.5-33.5)

9.30(8.80-10.20)

42.92 13.10(10.50-15.50)

69.00 6.50(3.4-9.7)

0.750 BARI released high

yielding variety

Fig.3. AVRDC Line (AVMU 0101). Fig.4. AVRDC Line (AVMU 0001). LentilFrom the very ancient period lentil is being cultivated in Bangladesh and it holds the 3 rd

position among the pulse crops cultivated in Bangladesh in area coverage as well as production. Due to huge demand, availability of improved varieties and good market price, the farmers are now increasing their lentil growing areas each year. Realizing the importance of lentil in the farming communities and among the consumers BRAC started the Lentil Seed Production Program during the year 2000-2001 and 4 BARI released varieties of improved type of lentil were brought to BRAC Agricultural Research & Development Centre, Gazipur for their performance evaluation. The details of their performances have been presented in the following table (Table. 6). Among the 4 varieties BARI mashur-5 was identified as bold seeded variety but its yield was found to be lower than other 3 varieties (Table.6). Considering the overall performances, BARImashur-2 & BARImashur-4 was recommended for seed production. However, on the basis of the demand among the pulse growers last year i.e during the year 2015-16; 7.5 metric tons of BARImashur-3 was produced against the target of 15 metric tons. In the current year there is also a target of the production of 20

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metric tons seeds of BARImashur-3 and BARImashur-6 (BARImashur-3=15Mt & BARImashur-6= 5Mt).

Table. 8. Performance trial of different BARI mashur varieties at BARDC ( 2000 – 2001)

Variety Plant height/plant (cm)

No. of primary branches/plant

Total no. of fruits/plant

1000-seed wt.(gm)

Seed yield/plant(gm)

BARImashur-2 44.27 ± 5.73(29.50 - 61.50)

2.92 ± 0.95(1.00 - 5.00)

37.53 ± 5.30(21.00 - 52.00)

38.30 ± 0.26(33.20 - 43.70)

15.97 ± 3.94(5.53 - 23.43)

BARImashur-3 37.87 ± 6.31(25.00 – 56.50)

2.71 ± 0.63(2.00 - 4.00)

30.86 ± 5.66(22.00 - 40.00)

36.90 ± 0.24(31.60 - 40.00)

14.10 ± 3.74(9.04 - 34.45)

BARImashur-4 48.37 ± 7.23(28.50 -63.00)

2.56 ± 0.63(1.00 - 4.00)

37.73 ± 6.19(19.00 - 47.00)

40.40 ± 0.23(37.50 - 44.50)

17.64 ± 6.57(9.95 – 41.88)

BARImashur-5 38.24 ± 5.74(20.00 -52.00)

1.46 ± 0.67 36.06 ± 6.23 56.00 ± 0.25(45% increased seed wt. than BARI mashur-2)

12.00 ± 4.78

Mean 42.19 2.41 35.54 42.90 14.93

Fig. 5. Trial plot of BARImashur-4 at BARDC.During the year 2001-2002, after evaluation of different varieties of lentil varieties at

BARDC, for the production of 10 metric tons of certified seed of lentil at the farmers level, required foundation seed of BARI-released variety BARImashur-2 & BARImashur-4 were also produced in the Birol Seed Farm, Dinajpur (Table. 3.).

Table. 9. Target Plan of Certified Seed Production of lentil (2001- 02).

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Sl. no.

Pulse crop

No.of varieties

Variety Land (Acre)

No. of farmers

Required founda-tion seed

Certified seed (Kg)

1 Lentil 2 BARImashur-2 2.50 8 30.00 1,0002 Lentil BARImashur-4 23.00 69 276.00 9,000Total - 2 110.5 332 - 40,000

Table.10. Foundation Seed Production of Lentil in Birol Farm, Dinajpur (2000- 01).Sl.no. Pulse crop Variety Land (Acre) Yield (kg) Yield/acre

(kg)1. Lentil BARImashur-2 0.40 40.00 100.002. BARImashur-4 1.30 288.00 221.00Total - 1.70 328.00 -

Field PeaField pea or Pisum sativum L. is an important pulse crop grown in Bangladesh during the winter or Rabi season and almost 20,000 hectares of land is covered by this crop from which 16,000 metric tons of peas are produced (BARI 2011). In Bangladesh, it is cultivated as a dual purpose crop since its green fruits are used as vegetables while its ripened seeds are used as pulse. As it is becoming more popular in recent times and demand is being increased BRAC launched a variety screening program of field pea during the year 2008-09. One of the major objectives of this trial was to find out a short duration variety which can be accommodated in the rice based farming system and can be cultivated as a short duration pulse crop after harvesting T. Amon rice crop. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with 2 replications. Three BARI released varieties BARImotor-1, 2 & 3 were evaluated and BARImotor-3 was identified as short duration variety which could be harvested only after 82 days of seed sowing (Table. 10). Plants of this particular variety had moderate plant height with relatively higher fruit wt. per fruit (10.46 gm). Since it is a short duration variety it was also found that it can be cultivated easily in between 2 rice crops T. Amon & Boro. As the quality of ripened seeds of BARImotor-1 was inferior (wrinkled seeds) than other commercial varieties and the plants were relatively weaker; subsequently an exotic variety “Ganga-Jamuna” obtained from Bharat nursery Seed Company, India was introduced and it was evaluated during the rabi season of 2013-14 at BRAC Agricultural Research & development Centre, Gazipur using BARImotor-3 as check variety. Plants of this exotic variety was robust type but took the same period for maturity (34 -35 days only). It is interesting to note that relatively larger fruits with higher no.of seeds per fruit were recorded from this exotic variety. Its fruit yield was also found to be slightly higher than BARImotor-3 (Table. 12). Adaptive trial reports also indicated that it is a well adapted variety and can be grown as short duration pea variety in Bangladesh agro-climatic conditions easily.

Table. 11. Comparative study of the yield performances of 3 BARI released field pea varieties during the rabi season of 2008-2009..

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Variety Plant height(cm)

No. of bran-ches/plant

Days taken to 1st

flower-ing

Total no. of fruits/plant

Fruit length/fruit(cm)

No. of seeds/fruit

Fruit wt./fruit(gm)

Days required to 1st

picking of green fruits

Seed yield/plant(Kg)

Cropduration

Remarks

BARImotor-1

69.80 6.20 52.00 18.90 8.45 5.43 5.69 82.00 5.69 114.00 BARImotor-3 was identified as short duration variety with moderate yield.

BARImotor-2

77.30 6.30 50.00 16.60 8.53 5.12 8.78 78.00 8.78 104.00

BARImotor-3

56.00 1.60 31.00 10.10 7.83 4.60 10.46 55.00 10.46 80.00

Table.12. Performance evaluation of an exotic variety at green fruit stage during the season of Rabiseason of 2014-15..

Variety Source Days taken to 1st

flower-ing

Days taken to 1st

pick-ing

Days taken to final har-vest-ing

Total no. of picking

Fruit wt./fruit(gm)

Fruit length/fruit(cm)

No. of seeds/fruit

100-seed wt(gm)

Fruit yield(Mt/acre)

No. of fruits/Kg

Ganga-Jamuna

Bharat Nursery

34.66 61.66 78.00 4.33 5.16 7.33 8.00 57.00 4.29 199.50

BARImotor-3 BARI 33.00 58.33 74.33 4.00 5.40 6.83 7.66 55.66 4.20 188.00

Fig. 6. Green fruits of Ganga-Jamuna. Fig.7. Green fruits of BARImotor-3.

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Fig. 8. Seeds of green fruits of Ganga-Jamuna. Fig. 9. Seeds of green fruits of BARImotor-3.

CowpeaCow pea is one of the popular pulse crop usually grown in the southern part of

Bangladesh; particularly in the districts of Chittagong, Feni, Bhola , Barishal etc. and each year near about 35000 metric tons of cowpea seeds are produced from 32,000 hectares of land (BARI 2011). Cowpea plants are relatively hardy and can be successfully cultivated in coastal areas and other marginal areas as well. Besides their seeds, young green fruits can also be consumed as vegetables. It can be mentioned here that cowpea is one of the most popular crop in the African countries and besides its fruits and seeds they also consume young leaves of cow pea as vegetables. Another advantage of cow pea cultivation is that after harvesting fruits, green cowpea plants can be used as ‘Green manure’ by trampling plants with the soil which increases soil fertility. Considering the importance of cowpea as a very good pulse crop (having also the potential of space farming) for the coastal regions and also for the plain land a variety development program was launched at BRAC Agricultural Research & Development Centre during the year 2010 and one promising advance line (RBS-1) have been developed from the collected local germplasms so far which exhibited its superiority over BARI released variety BARIfelon-1 (Table. 13). Main characteristics of this particular advance line are:

1. High yielding line with excellent fruit bearing habit.2. Robust type plants having well spreading bushy habit.3. Plants mature at 72-73 days after sowing and its crop duration is 110-115 days.4. Longer fruits with increased no. of seeds.5. Ash coloured seeds with reddish hue.6. Thousand seed wt. is around 124-134 gm.7. Yield per hectare is near about 1800- 2000 Kg.8. Protein content is around 27-28 % in its seed.

Table.13. Evaluation of BARDC developed cowpea lines using variety BARI felon-1 as check variety during the early Kharif season of 2014-15.

Variety/lines

Plant height(cm)

Plant spread-ing(cm)

No. of bran-ches/Plant

Days taken to 1st flowe-ring

Total no. of fruitclusters/ plant

Total no. of fruits/plant

Fruit length(cm)

No. of seeds/ fruit

1000-seed wt. (gm)

Yield/ha (kg)

Brown 48.00 48.60 4.20 70.00 9.40 11.40 16.10 16.50 113.90 1689.48

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seeded(BS-1)

(44-56) (42-56) (3-5) (7-13) (7-16) (15.00-16.00)

(16.20-17.00)

(109-119)

Red-dish brown seeded(RBS-1)

42.00(37-48)

42.80(37-49)

4.40(4-5)

72.00 9.60(8-13)

13.60(11-17)

16.40(16.20-16.60)

18.30(17.00-20.60)

128.40(124-134)

1948.83(31.28% increased yield than BARI felon-1)

BARI felon-1

48.40(37-60)

44.40(40-53)

3.80(3-5)

75.00 6.80(5-11)

9.60(8-11)

15.40(15.30-15.60)

14.70(14.20-15.20)

116.70(112-120)

1484.47

Table.14. Comparative proximate analysis of BARDC developed cowpea line (RBS-1) with other legumes viz. mung bean & ground nut.

Sl.no. Variety *CP (%) Fat (%) Ash (%) Fibre(%) Moisture (%)

01 Cowpea 27.05 1.00 1.72 5.82 11.3802 Mung bean 26.37 0.750 4.38 5.92 8.6603 Ground nut 32.74 42.37 2.72 11.80 5.75

*CP = Crude protein.

Fig.10. Different promising cowpea lines developed at BARDC.

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Fig. 11. Plants of BARDC developed line Fig. 12. Plants of BARIfelon-1 (at fruiting (at fruiting stage) (RBS-1). stage). Chick peaChick pea is another popular pulse crop grown widely in Bangladesh during the rabi season and it holds 5th position among the pulse crop with respect to its area coverage and production. Near about 15000 hectares of land are cultivated with chick pea and almost 15000 metric tons of gram seeds are produced each year. During the year 2001-2002 four improved BARI chick pea varieties and two BINA varieties were subjected to field evaluation at BRAC Agricultural Research Research & Development Centre (BARDC). After critical evaluation one BARI released variety BARIchola-2 and one BINA released variety BINAchola-1 was recommended for seed production.

ConstraintsSeasonalityMost of the pulse crops are season based and as a good no. of pulse crops are winter season crops this is why these pulse crops usually faces huge competition in the Rabi season for their cultivation.Pulse crops cannot compete with cerealsIn Bangladesh rice is the main crop and staple food as well. During the 1960-70 rice were grown under rain fed condition. During that time pulses were extensively grown all over the country on residual moisture. Introduction of the irrigation facilities expanded rice cultivation all the year round mainly on winter season which cause reduction of the cultivation of pulses. . Low yield potential of pulse cultivars Pulse varieties are inherently low yielding type crops and are susceptible to diseases & insect pest, have less branching, exhibits low podding intensity and have very small seed size. In general, the average production of rice is 4.0Mt/ha, wheat 5.0 Mt/ha whereas the production of lentil 0.80 Mt/ha, mung bean 1.2 Mt/ha.Susceptible to diseases Most of the local pulses varieties are susceptible to the major diseases. Lentil is susceptible to Stemphylium blight and can cause 80% loss, while Collar rot causes 44% yield loss. Chick

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pea is susceptible to Botryties Grey Mould disease. And Mung bean, Black gram etc. are susceptible to virus disease. These diseases can cause damage to crops which hinders farmers from cultivation of the major pulse crops.Poorer response to high inputsIt has been found that pulse varieties which are being cultivated by the farmers, exhibits little response to added fertilizer and irrigation compared to cereal crops.Less careMost of the farmers think that pulse crop can be grown with less care. Therefore, they put more effort on major crops like rice, wheat, vegetable and give little effort on pulse cultivationClimate changeErratic weather pattern has been found to be responsible for yield reduction of many pulse crops.

RecommendationsEven though pulse is a profitable crop, due to various setbacks and socio-economic constraints many growers have negative attitude towards pulse production. The following recommendations are put forward for wider adoption of pulse varieties.

Since quality seed is the basic input of sustainable agriculture; seeds of improved pulse varieties should be made locally available to the farmers. For this reason the government should encourage private seed companies and the NGO’s to come forward for improved pulse seed production.

Strong collaboration between government organizations and the NGO’s as well as private companies in different areas may help increase the availability of improved pulse seeds to the growers.

Motivational campaign through providing training, on line advertisements, supplying booklets, and other supporting materials to farmers should be done and this should be continued.

Existing extension services and field demonstration of pulses should be strengthened for higher diffusion of improved pulses varieties.

More intensive research should be undertaken by research institutes and other organizations to develop disease and insect-pest resistant pulse varieties in the near future.

Credit facilities should be provided to the marginal farmers as well as small holders and higher prices for improved quality pulses will have to be ensured.

Establishment of more agro-processing industries in the country should be encouraged.

Prepared by:Dr. Sitesh Chandra BiswasProgram SpecialistBRAC Agricultural Research & Development Centre (BARDC)Jogitola, BRRI, Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh.