Introduction Gram or ‘chana’ or chickpea is a very important variety of pulses. Dal, besan (flour), crushed or whole gram, boiled or parched, roasted or cooked, salted or unsalted or sweet preparations and green foliage and grain, as vegetables, are the important forms in which it is consumed by the people.

Gram is an important rabi crop mainly sown in September -November and harvested in February. Sometimes, it is also grown as a regularly or partially irrigated crop. It is best suited to areas having low to moderate rainfall and a mild cold weather. Excessive rain soon after sowing or at flowering does great harm. Severe cold is injurious, and is very harmful. Hailstorms at ripening cause much damage. It is best suited to areas having moderate rainfall of 60-90 cm per annum.

Gram in India is cultivated in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Haryana. The area under gram cultivation has gone down very sharply in the last twenty-five years in these states. In the case of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab, gram is being substituted by wheat and in the case of Bihar, it is being replaced with rabi rice.

Gram is grown on a wide range of soils in India. It however, grows best on sandy loam to clay loam. The ideal soil from gram is one that is well drained and not too heavy. The soil chosen for cultivation of gram should be free from excessive soluble salts and near neutral in reaction. However it is not suited to soils having a pH higher than 8.5. In north India, the crop is grown on light alluvial soils, which are rather poor for wheat. Kabuli gram, however, requires better soil. In Deccan and southern India, gram is cultivated on water-retentive clay loams and black cotton soils.

Grown as the sole crop of the year, gram is rotated with jowar, bajra, wheat, coriander and occasionally rice. When taken as a second crop in the same year, it follows an early crop of sesame, fodder jowar, maize, guar, kar, ragi, or coriander. Irrigated gram in the south is rotated with garden crops, such as onion and sweet potatoes, or with irrigated wheat, jowar or rice. Gram is grown alone or mixed with wheat, barley, linseed, safflower or mustard. In mixed crops, gram does well when rainfall is low, whereas other crops fare better when rains are adequate or abundant. Mixed cropping is also said to check gram blight to some extent.

Gram is slightly sensitive to soil aeration. This imposes a restriction for its cultivation on heavy soils and it requires special care in seedbed preparation. A rough seedbed is required for gram. The preparation of land is similar as for wheat, except that no fine tilth is attempted and the soil is not compacted but is left somewhat cloddy. In case the gram crop is taken after a kharif fellow, it is advisable to go for deep ploughing during the monsoons as the same would help in larger conservation of rain water in the soil profile for subsequent use by this crop.

The seed may be sown by a seed drill or local plough at a row spacing of 30-45 cms. A seed rate of 75-100 kg per hectare depending upon seed size may be considered sufficient for one hectare. The seed should be placed 8-10 cms deep because the shallow sown crop is more liable to be damaged by wilt. It is advisabl eto treat the seed with 0.25% Thiram before sowing.

The crop is rarely manured, but the application of phosphatic fertilizers has been shown to increase the grain yield. Gram being a leguminous crop fulfils the major part of its nitrogen requirement (about 75%) through the process of symbiotic nitrogen fixation which works effectively from three to four weeks after sowing. However soils with low organic matter and poor nitrogen supply may require 20-25 kg of nitrogen as starter dose which can meet plant requirement before the formation of nodules. Placing the phosphatic fertilizer a little below or to the side of the seed has been found benefifcial. Twenty-five to 45 kg of P₂O₅ (depending upon the P content of the soil) plus 15 kg of N per ha is recommended. It has been found that this does can be conveniently applied in the form of one quintal of D.A.P. placed below the seed.

Gram is sown as a rainfed crop. Wherever irrigation facilities are available, pre-sowing irrigation is advisable. This will ensure proper germination and smooth crop growth. In case there is winter rainfall, one irrigation should be given at the pre-flowering stage and one at the pod development stage. The regularly irrigated crop in the Deccan receives only three or four waterings in the whole season. In the case of luxuriant plant growth, tips are nipped to encourage branching and flowering, thereby increasing yield. The crop responds to irrigation, particularly around 45 days after sowing and at the early pod-filling stage (around 110 days after sowing). In no case the first irrigation should be given earlier than four weeks after sowing. No irrigation should be given at the flowering time of the gram crop. Excess of irrigation enhances vegetative growth

The gram crop when grown for fodder the plants are cut when in flower or when the pods are beginning to form (50 to 85 days after sowing). When grown for seeds, the crop is left until the plants are mature. The crop usually matures in about 150 days or more in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and in 120 days or less in the Deccan and farther south. The plants are pulled out or when cut with a sickle leaves become reddish brown, dry up and start shedding. The harvested plants are carted to the threshing-floor, dried for about a week and threshed by trampling them under the feet of bullocks or by beating them with sticks.