RICE BEAN A NEW CROP FOR TRIBALS OF BIHAR PLATEAU

Abstract

Rice bean, popularly known as 'Raj moong', has proved to be the highest
yielding kharif pulse in this region. On account of its high yield and high
degree of resistance to viral and bacterial diseases in comparison to other
kharif pulses as well as its profuse pod-bearing and bold-seeded character,
rice bean may prove to be more popular and acceptable to the local farmers
than moong and urid. Moreover, due to the hardness of its seed-coat, grain
damage by storage pests is negligible or almost nil. A need was, therefore,
felt to evaluate rice bean varieties obtained from various parts of the country
to test their suitability for this region.