Abstract

Pulses form a group of food grains which play an important role in the Indian diet, especially in Madras, which is predominantly a rice-consuming State. They form the chief source of protein food to vegetarians and to the poorer classes who cannot afford the higher cost of animal protein. The pulses which are, important in the Madras State are redgram, greengram, blackgram, horsegram and Bengalgram. The pulse grain is mostly consumed by human beings, while the by-products such as broken grains, husk, chaff otc., are fed to cattle. Apart from their food value the cultivation of these crops increases the fertility of the soil in which they are grown, as the atmospheric nitrogen is fixed by the bacteria present in their root nodules. In spite of their importance, work on their improvement has not received the attention they deserve. The total area of all the pulses in Madras is about 3 million acres with a production of about 2-9 lakhs tons of grain. The average consumption of pulses in the State is about 5-8 lakhs of tons, which works out at the rate of 1 oz. per day per adult. Dr. Aykroyd has suggested that every adult should consume a minimum of 3 oz, of pulses a day to have a balanced diet. Even for the consumption of 1 oz. per day the production in the State is not sufficient, and as much as 50% of the requirements is met by imports from other States. The following table shows the acreages, production, consumption and deficit under each pulse in the Madras State.

Keywords: