Gulbarga Tur Dal and Tur Dal cultivation in India (Pigeon Pea)

About Gulbarga Tur Dal (Pigeon Pea)

• Gulbarga Tur Dal is associated with the Kalaburagi region of Karnataka.
• Features:
  • The high calcium and potassium content of the soil in Gulbarga tur dal-growing region has been one of the major factors for its superior quality. 
  • It is recognized for its distinctive taste, aroma and quality.
  • It also takes less time to cook.
• Recognition: It has received the Geographical Indication (GI) registration in 2019. 
• Production: Karnataka is one of India’s major agricultural states with pulses playing an important role in its dryland agriculture and rural economy. 
  • Kalaburagi is one of the major centres of tur cultivation and production in Karnataka.

About Tur Dal (Pigeon Pea) Cultivation in India

• Tur dal is the major legume crop.
  • It is also known as pigeon pea or Arhar dal. 
• It is the second most important pulse after gram.
• Geographical condition requirements : 
  • Climate: It is mainly grown in tropical regions, particularly in the semi-arid areas of India.
  • Rainfall: It requires about 600–650 mm of annual rainfall. 
    • It needs moist conditions during the first eight weeks and relatively dry conditions during flowering and pod development.
  • Temperature: It grows well at 26–30°C during the rainy season and 17–22°C during the post-rainy season (November–March).
  • Soil: It grows well in black cotton soils because these soils retain moisture, which benefits the crop during dry spells. 
    • It can also thrive in loamy and well-drained alluvial soils.
  • Sunlight: It needs good sunlight during pod development.
    • Low sunlight during the monsoon or cloudy weather can lead to poor pod formation.
  • Intercropping: It is commonly grown as an intercrop with many other crops.
• Major Diseases: The major diseases affecting pigeonpea are wilt, sterility mosaic disease, Phytophthora blight, Alternaria blight, and powdery mildew.
• Production area: Uttar Pradesh is the leading producer of it in India, producing about 0.47 million tonnes from 0.49 million hectares.
  • Other producers are Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
• Exporter: Mozambique is an important exporter of pigeonpea (Tur/Arhar) to India. 
• Nutritional value: 
  • It is rich in protein and carbohydrates and provides important minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, and iron.
  • It is low in fat and provides good energy, making it a nutritious part of a balanced diet.
• Note: Recently, in a major scientific breakthrough Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed India’s first fully annotated telomere-to-telomere (T2T) reference genome of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.) variety ‘Asha’.