Mung Bean Cultivation Guideline
Modern Cultivation Method of Mungbean
Mungbean (in Bangla mung) is a common pulse crop Vigna radiata of the family Fabaceae.
Introduction:
Mungbean is thought to have originated in South and Southeast Asian regions. It is widely grown in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, China, and Indonesia. It is also grown in parts of East and Central Africa, the West Indies, the USA, and Australia.
Mungbean can be cultivated on sandy loam, alluvial and heavy clay types of soils. The soil should be well drained since it is sensitive to waterlogging. Yields are best in deep, well-drained alluvial loams, red loams and black soils.
Mungbean seeds are used either whole or split into dal for several dishes. The seeds are used to prepare sweets and are also fried in oil to be eaten as a snack. The green plant is used as fodder in many areas. It is also a good green manure crop. The dried stems and pod walls remaining after threshing are also used as cattle feed.
In Japan, sprouts (young seedlings called Moyashi in Japanese) are consumed as vegetables. In Patuakhali BARI Mung 6 is cultivated in a wide scale because of its bold size grain and high yield.
SEED:
We advise farmers for BARI Mung 6 variety. This variety of seeds is available in farmers’ hands as they are cultivating BARI Mung 6 for many years in the Patuakhali district. Grameen euglena is purchasing mungbean directly from farmers. Farmers make and keep good quality seeds for each year from the cultivation. To ensure good seed sowing Grameen euglena provide bold size, high germination rate, and quality seed by size grading in their Japanese factory. In this way, farmers are able to cultivate big size mungbean
Sowing date:
Mungbean is usually sown in late January to mid-February when soil temperatures increase. Colder soil will reduce germination. Mungbean requires some soil moisture to germinate or post-sowing irrigation.
- In the Patuakhali district, the crop rotation is followed as T. Aman – Mungbean – Fallow
- The best sowing period of mungbean is 08 Magh to 07 Falgun or 21 January to 20 February.
Seed rate for mungbean:
For BARI Mung-6 seed rate is
- For line sowing: 1.75 – 2.0 kg per bigha (13-15kg per hectare)
- For broadcast sowing: 3.0-3.5kg per bigha (22-25 kg per hectare)
Fertilizer application and land preparation:
Land preparation depends on whether you will sow by broadcasting (by hand) or by machine, as well as soil texture and structure. Mung Bean seeds must touch moist soil after sowing to germinate.
- Keep the soil free from weeds.
- If broadcasting, use 1-2 passes of a power tiller followed by hand broadcasting, followed by one more pass to incorporate the seed into the soil.
- Mungbean can also be planted by a machine that establishes the crop in lines 30 cm apart. This lowers production costs because seeding and tillage is done at the same time.
Compost 670 kg of compost, Urea 5-6 kg, TSP 11-11.5 kg, MoP 4-5 kg and ZnSO4 0.7-1.0kg fertilizer should be applied per bigha (1 bigha = 33 decimal).
After fertilizing the land, the soil should be loosened with two ploughings so that the seeds can germinate easily.
After fertilizing the land, the soil should be loosened with two ploughings so that the seeds can germinate easily.
Mungbean is a legume. Legumes can take nitrogen (which is the element that Urea is largely made of) from the air and move it into the soil with the help of soil microbial species (organisms in the soil too small to see that assist in fixing nitrogen). If soil quality is poor, legumes will put more nitrogen into the soil,
provided the right soil microbial species are there to assist. If soil quality is good, then legumes will fix less nitrogen into the soil. Most farmers do not apply fertilizer to mungbean. Where rice is rotated with mungbean over several years, mungbean may help to improve soil quality by supplying nitrogen over time. A little fertilizer can still help improve yield and profits for mungbean. The use of phosphorous also helps improve how much nitrogen can be fixed by mungbean. We advise you to apply a small amount of fertilizer at sowing.
Method of sowing seeds:
Seeds must be sown in rows. Row-to-row distance of 30-35cm and plant-to-plant distance of 15cm. Seeds should be sown 3-5cm deep. There must be sufficient moisture in the soil before sowing. 1 good seed should be sown in each hole. Seedlings usually grow from seeds within 3 to 5 days of sowing. However, if a hole does not germinate the seed, it should be re-sown as soon as possible.
- Line sowing by machine-produced yields higher than broadcasting.
- Line sowing resulted in profits 35% higher than broadcasting because only a single pass of the seeding machine was needed. Fertilizers were also applied by the machine.
- Line sowing by machine also reduced the time needed for tillage by 33% compared to using a power tiller.
Weed control:
After 15 days of germination, the soil between the two rows should be raised at the base of the plant to form a drain (each row will be a bed of 8 inches wide and 4 inches high). This will facilitate weed control as well as irrigation, drainage, and other intercultural operation. After one month, weeds should be controlled by raising the soil again at the base of the mungbean plant in the same way.
Irrigation:
If the soil moisture level is low, timely irrigation should be provided. Irrigation once after 20 to 25 days of germination increases the yield.
Mungbean will not germinate if there is excessive water in the soil. Any standing water should be drained before sowing. Farmers usually cultivate mungbean using soil moisture left over after T. Aman. Farmers in West Bengal and other locations in India however regularly apply a single irrigation after sowing to improve mungbean growth. If mungbean is sown with bed planting, then irrigation can be easily applied, although bed planting is not advised where soils are saline. If planted on beds, a single post-sowing irrigation can raise yield up to 50%. If sowing mungbean by broadcasting or machine line sowing, irrigation may only be beneficial on fields that are very well-leveled and flat.
Major Insects & Diseases:
Whitefly control
- Keeping the field clean. If the attack is more, 20 ml of Sabicron should be mixed with 10 liters of water and sprayed.
Pod borers
- Keeping the field clean. If the attack is more, 20 ml of Sabicron should be mixed with 10 liters of water and sprayed.
Yellow mosaic disease:
- As the virus of this disease is spread by white flies, it is possible to get rid of this disease only if the white flies are controlled.
Aphid control:
- Increasing the population of ladybird beetles. If the attack is more, 2-gram Ektara or spike should be mixed with 10 liters of water and sprayed.
Bruchids (Callosobruchus chinensis, C.maculatus)
- Female beetles lay their eggs on pods. Hatching larvae bore feed on seed. Infestation may begin in the field and continue after harvest in storage. Infested grains are unfit for food. How can I manage burchids?
- Before storing seeds or grain after harvest, make sure seeds are well dried.
- Store seeds in an air-tight plastic bag protected by a stronger woven plastic bag, or in a super bag. If the bag is airtight, grain-eating pests will suffocate and die.
- Plastic or metallic drums can also be used to store seeds. Try to remove all air from these containers before the seeds are stored. For the drums, you can light a candle and put the top of the drum on, and the candle will remove all oxygen so that pests die.
- Controlling burchids in the field is usually not effective.
Harvest:
Mungbean is ready for harvest when the pod turns black and dries. If mungbean is sown early, it can be harvested up to three times. Late sown mungbean may however not be picked more than once. After picking, pods should be sun-dried for 1-2 days. After drying, check if the seed in the pods makes a sound in pods when shaken. If you can hear the seeds, the pods can be threshed. Threshing can be done on a large tarp by hitting mungbean with a bamboo stick, or by walking over the pods until they shatter. Pods are then separated from mungbean grain by winnowing.
Seed making and storage :
For seed storage for the next season, farmers collect seeds from selected plants and pick up the mature black goods pods separately. After collecting pods are dried in sunlight over the polythene sheets. Well-dried seeds are kept in air-tight plastic bottles or plastic jars with dried leaves of Neem or Bishkantali to ensure insect free.
