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Cluster bean
Botanical Name – Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.
Family – Fabaceae

Importance

• Guar is an important legume crop.
• It is cultivated for fodder as well as for grain purpose.
• Also it is used as vegetable and green manure crop.
• It is drought tolerant crop and also thrives in semi-arid regions.
• Gaur gum is extracted from gaur beans (endosperm of seed) has several industrial uses.
• It is used to make gum powder which is used in
• Oil extraction industry, food processing and preservation, printing, textile and paper industry.

Varieties

1) Guara 80:

• Recommended for cultivation throughout state.
• It is resistant to leaf blight and stem breakage.
• Seeds are round, flat shape and of light grey color.
• Late maturing variety gives yield of 8 qtl /acre.

2) HG 365:

• It is early maturing variety, ready to harvest in 105 days.
• Gives average yield of 5.5 qtl /acre.

3) Ageta Guara 112:

• Plants are of medium height of (1-1.5m).
• It gives average yield of 8qtl /acre.

Other state varieties:

1)  HG 563:

• Early maturing variety suitable for all guar growing areas in India.
• Gives average yield of 7-8 qtl /acre.

2) RGC 936:

• Early maturing variety, suitable for all guar growing areas in India.
• Gives average yield of 8 qtl /acre.

3) FS-277:

• Developed by CCSHAU, Hisar, suitable for all guar growing areas in India.

Pusa Mausmi, Pusa Sadabahar, Pusa Naubahar and MDU 1

Soil and Climate

Soil –

• Well drained sandy loam with pH range of 7.5-8.0 is required.
• It can be grown on all type of soils.
• It gives best result when grown on well drained sandy loam soils.
• The crop tolerates salinity. 

Climate-

• It grows in specific climatic condition, which ensure a soil temperature around 25°C for proper germination.
• Long photo-period, with humid air during its growth period and finally short photo-period with cool dry air at flowering and pod formation

• It can tolerate temperature as high as 45-46⁰ C. It is a photosensitive and indeterminate crop.

• Atmospheric humidity encourages the infestation of many diseases like bacterial leaf blight, root rot, etc.

Season and Sowing

Time of sowing

• Complete sowing from mid-July to mid-August.
• Method of sowing
• For sowing use seed drill, Pora or kera method.

Spacing

• Spacing
• For Sowing use row to row distance of 30 cm.
• 45 x15 cm
  
  Sowing Depth
  Sow seeds at depth of 2-3 cm.

Seed Rate

• Seed Rate
• For sowing use seed rate of 8-10 kg/acre.
• Optimum seed rate plays vital role in maintaining proper plant population.
• The optimum seed rate for both summer and kharif season crop is 15 kg ha

Irrigation

• Usually, clusterbean is grown as rainfed crop in arid and semi-arid condition.
• The irrigation should, however, be provided whenever, crop suffers moisture stress, if irrigation facilities are available.
• Life saving irrigation should be given to the crop particularly at the time of flowering and seed formation stage.
• Since crop often suffers moisture stress in arid region, it is recommended that water management practices like bunding of the field, mulching with plant residues @ 3-5 t ha be used for conserving moisture in the soil and avoiding moisture loss due to evaporation.
• Spray of 0.1% thiourea solution at 25 and 45 DAS also improves the yield of clusterbean during moisture stress condition.
• Adequate moisture is required for the crop grown during summer season.
• Crop should be sown after applying pre-sowing irrigation.
• If crop does not germinate properly, a light irrigation can be given at 6-7 days after sowing.
• At least 5 irrigation should be given after the germination of the crop at an interval of 15 days.
• Never allow water to stand in cluster bean field at any stage of its growth.
• Crop yield may be affected due to high temperature and low humidity at the seed setting time.
• Therefore, irrigating crop at seed setting time is beneficial for obtaining good yield during summer season also.
• Suitable drainage conditions should be provided for the removal of excess water from the field

Rotation and Intercropping

• In the rainfed condition of Rajasthan, clusterbean is traditionally grown as a mixed crop with pearl millet, mung bean, moth bean and sesame.
• But in some areas, sole cropping of clusterbean is also being taken.
• Clusterbean can be successfully intercropped with pearl millet in 2:1 row proportion of clusterbean and pearl millet.
• This system is quite profitable as compared to sole cropping of pearl millet.

Following crop rotation can be followed:

• Clusterbean-pearlmillet (two year crop rotation in rainfed condition)
• Clusterbean-wheat (one year rotation for irrigated condition)
• Clusterbean-cumin (one year rotation for irrigated condition)
• Clusterbean-wheat-clusterbean-cumin (two year rotation)
• Clusterbean-wheat-mung bean-mustard (two year crop rotation)
• Clusterbean-cumin-pearlmillet-mustard (two year crop rotation)
• Clusterbean-wheat-pearlmillet-cumin (two year crop rotation)

Seed Treatment

Seed Treatment

• Before sowing, seed treatment is necessary.
• It will protect seeds from soil borne pest and disease.
• Dip seeds in hot water@ 56°C for 10 minutes then dried seeds at room temperature.
• Treat seeds with Ceresan or Thiram @ 3 gm /kg of seeds
• it will protect seeds from fungus. Then dry seeds in shades.
•  Seed should be treated with either Trichoderma @ 4 g kg of seed or mancozeb or with carbendazim @ 2 g kg of seed followed by chloropyriphos @ 2 ml kg of seed.
• The seed should be inoculated with suitable rhizobium culture @ 600 gm/15 kg of seed.
• Three packets (200 gm each) of the rhizobium strain should be mixed with a solution of jaggery by mixing 250 gm in one litre of water.
• After having uniform coating of slurry over the seeds, it should be dried for 30 minutes in shade.
• Dried seeds should be sown within 24 hours of inoculation

Preparation of Field

• For guar cultivation, firm and uniform beds are required.
• Plough the land thoroughly for two to three times and bring to fine tilth.
• After then do harrowing and planking to make land levelled.
• Field should be well prepared for good germination. It should be fine texture, free from weeds and not too many clods. There is no need of preparing an extremely fine field.
• The first ploughing should be done with soil turning plough or disc harrow so that at least 20-25 cm deep soil may become loose.
• It should be followed by one or two cross harrowing or ploughings.
• The ploughing should be followed by planking so that soil is well pulverized and leveled. Properly leveled field is required for good drainage.

Application of Fertilizers

Fertilizer Requirement (kg/acre)

Nutrients Requirement (kg/acre)

• Apply FYM 25 t/ha, Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria each 2 kg/ha  
• Apply Nitrogen @ 9 kg in form of Urea @ 20 kg and Phosphorus @ 19 kg in form of SSP@120 kg / acre before sowing.

Staking

Provide staking for MDU 1 variety

Plant Protection

Pests-

1)  Jassid:

Management-

If infestation is observed, take spray of Malathion 50 EC @250-450 ml /100 Ltr of water for two – three times with interval of 15 days.

2) Ash weevils

Management–

Spray Azadirachtin 0.03% (300ppm) @ 2.5 ml/lit

3.Leaf hopper , aphids, and glasshouse whitefly

Spray methyl demeton 25 EC or dimethoate 30 EC 1 ml/lit.

4.Termites

Termites damage plants by eating away root and stem, which cause poor plant stand.

Management-

• Seed treatment with chlorophyriphos @ 2 ml kg of seed and application of chlorophyriphos @ 1.25 L ha with irrigated water is very effective for controlling termite infestation in standing crop.
• Application of chlorophyriphos dust @ 20 kg ha at the time of last ploughing before sowing is also very effective to control soil borne insects

Disease

1) Bacterial blight :

Symptoms-

• Dark brown spot with dot like bodies developed on stem, branches, leaflet and pods.
• In severe infestation, withering of stem and pod is observed. 

Management-

• For cultivation use resistant varieties.
• On incidence of disease spray with Indofil M-45 or Captan @260gm/100Ltr of water per acre.
• If necessary repeat the spray at interval of 15 days.

2. Leaf spot

Management-

• Spray mancozeb @ 2 g/l.

3. Powdery mildew-

Management-

• Spray wettable sulphur @ 2 g/l or dust sulphur @ 25 kg/ha and repeat it at15 days interval

4.Anthracnose

Symptoms-

• This disease is caused by Colletotrichum capsici f. cyamopsicola.
• The symptoms of the disease appear on the leaves, petiole and stem in the shape of black spots.

Management-

Spray of zineb @ 2 kg in 500 L of water per hectare should be done for controlling this disease

Harvest

• Harvesting starts at 45 days in early varieties and at 100 days in late varieties.
• The early varieties is 80-60 days and late varieties is 135-145 days. 

Yield

Yield– 5 – 7 t/ha in 90 days.