User:AltCrop22/sandbox

Cultivation:

Horse gram is drought tolerant and deals well with harsh environmental conditions like salinity or metal stresses. It is able to grow on a broad range of soil types with different pH ranges. Cultivation is also possible on poor soils in terms of organic matter and nitrogen. The major growing regions of Macrotyloma uniflorum are located in India, Africa and Australia. Horse gram thrives where the temperature is in the range of 20 to 30 °C (68 to 86 °F) but it is killed by frost. Due to its ability to withstand drought Horse gram is grown in areas with low precipitation (380 - 900 mm; 15 - 35 in). In wetter areas, it is usually sown at the end of the rainy season to still facilitate cultivation. Horse gram cannot handle waterlogging. It is often cultivated as an inter- or mixed crop together with groundnut, sorghum, sesame, niger, maize, finger millet, pearl millet, amaranth, marvel grass, kidney bean. It can also be grown alone or with trees like neem (Azadirachta indica), Albizia procera or Acacia nilotica. Grain or green forage yield is highly dependent on the growing region as well as the cropping system. In India green forage yield varies from 5 - 14 t/ha, in Australia it is approximately 4.4 t/ha. Grain yield in India is around 0.13 – 1.2 t/ha and respectively 1.1 – 2.2 t/ha in Australia. Pests:

Horse gram can be affected by various diseases. Among the most important ones, in terms of yield reduction, are anthracnose (Colletotrichum lindemuthianum), the yellow mosaic virus as well as powdery mildew. Other diseases affecting horse gram are dry root rot (Macrophomina phaseolina), rusts, aerial blight (Rhizoctonia solani) and leaf spot (Cercospora). The pod borer and the pod fly are the most damaging insect pests. Other known insect pests are the pod borer (Etiella zinckenella), pod fly (Melanagromyza obtusa), aphids (Aphis craccivora), hairy caterpillar (Azazia rubicans), pod caterpillar (Helicoverpa armigera), American serpentine leaf miner (Liriomyza trifolii), thrips, leaf hoppers and as a storage pest Callosobruchus.