Adaptation and Agronomy
Rachie & Roberts (1974) classed ricebean as adapted to subhumid regions with 1000–1500 mm precipitation, although they noted that other factors were also involved in adaptation, for example rainfall pattern, moisture distribution, temperature, cloud cover and relative humidity, soil characteristics, pests and diseases. They noted the importance of human needs in assessing adaptation – for example taste, the need for a particular use, or market price. Average yields were between 200 and 300 kg ha−1, although with the potential for 1200 kg ha−1, the crop would grow on a range of soils, and was resistant to pests and diseases. It would mature in as little as 60 days, and although performing well under humid conditions, was also tolerant to drought (NAS 1979) and high temperatures. It is tolerant to some degree of waterlogging, although the young plants appear to be susceptible (de Carvallho & Veira, 1996). Ricebean is also known to be tolerant to acid soils (Dwivedi, 1996). Shattering is a problem in comparison with other grain legumes, and can be particularly serious under conditions of frequent wetting and drying.
Ricebean is a neglected crop, cultivated on small areas by subsistence farmers in hill areas of Nepal, northern and northeastern India, and parts of southeast Asia. It can be grown in diverse conditions and is well known among farmers for its wide adaptation and production even in marginal lands, drought-prone sloping areas, and flat rainfed tars (unirrigated, ancient alluvial river fans). It is mainly grown between 700 and 1300 m asl, although in home gardens it is found from 200 up to 2000 m. Most of the crop currently grown in Nepal is used as food for humans, with a smaller proportion used for fodder and green manuring.
Generally, ricebean is grown as an intercrop with maize, on rice bunds or on the terrace risers, as a sole crop on the uplands or as a mixed crop with maize in the khet (bunded parcels of lands where transplanted rice is grown) land. Under mixed cropping with maize it is usually broadcast some time between sowing maize and that crop’s first and second earthing up, so ricebean sowing extends from April–May to June.
Ricebean is valuable for its ability to fix nitrogen in depleted soils and in mixed cropping with local varieties of maize, as well as for its beneficial role in preventing soil erosion. The crop receives almost no inputs, and is grown on residual fertility and moisture and in marginal and exhausted soils. Anecdotal evidence indicates that the area and production of ricebean in Nepal is declining due to the introduction of high yielding maize varieties and increasing use of chemical fertilizers, while consumption is decreasing due to increased availability of more preferred pulses in the local markets. No modern plant breeding has been done and only landraces with low yield potential are grown. These have to compete with other summer legumes such as soybeans (Glycine max), black gram, cowpea, common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and horse gram (Mactrotyloma uniflorum). Other production constraints that limit the production of ricebean include small and fragmented land holdings and declining productivity.
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