Pulses

The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) defines pulses as annual leguminous crops yielding from one to 12 grains or seeds of variable size, shape and coulour within a pod. Pulses are used for food and animal feed.

The term pulses is reserved for crops harvested solely for the dry grain and therefore excludes green beans and green peas, which are considered vegetable crops. Also excluded are crops which are mainly grown for oil extraction, like soybeans and peanuts, and crops which are used exclusively for sowing (clovers, alfalfa).

Pulses are important food crops due to their high protein and essential amino acid content. Like many leguminous crops, pulses play a key role in crop rotation due to their ability to fix nitrogen.

Statistics

India is both the world's largest producer and the world's largest importer of pulses.

Canada, Myanmar, Australia and the United States are significant exporters of pulses. (Note: these are the four most significant suppliers of India's imports, in that order.)

The vast majority of leguminous crops grown in the United States are peanuts and soybeans used as cattle feed and for extraction of vegetable oil, which are not considered pulses (see above).

Classification of pulses

FAO recognizes 11 primary pulses.

• Dry beans (Phaseolus spp.)
  • Kidney bean, haricot bean, pinto bean, navy bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)
  • Lima bean, butter bean (Ph. Lunatus)
  • Adzuki bean (Ph. Angularis syn.Vigna angularis)
  • Mung bean, golden gram, green gram (Ph. Aureus syn.Vigna radiata)
  • Black gram, Urd (Ph. Mungo)
  • Scarlet runner bean (Ph coccineus)
  • Rice bean (Ph. calacaratus)
  • Moth bean (Ph. aconitifolius syn. Vigna aconitifolius)
  • Tepary bean (Ph. acutifolius)

• Dry broad beans (Vicia spp)
  • Horse bean (Vicia faba var. equina)
  • Broad bean(Vicia fava var major)
  • Field bean (Vicia faba var minor)

• Dry peas (Pisum spp.)
  • Garden pea (Pisum sativum)
  • Protein pea (Pisum arvense)

• Chickpea, Garbonzo, Bengal gram (Cicer arietinum)

• Dry cow pea, blackeye pea, blackeye bean (Vigna sinensis)

• Pigeon pea, cajan pea, congo bean (Cajanus cajan)

• Lentil (Lens esculenta)

• Bambara bean, bambara groundnut, earth pea (Voandzeia subterranea)

• Vetch, common vetch (Vicia sativa)

• Lupins (Lupinus spp.)

• Minor pulses include:
  • Lablab, hyacinth bean (Dolichos lablab)
  • Jack bean, sword bean (Carnavalia spp)
  • Winged bean (Psophocarpus teragonolobus)
  • Velvet bean (Stizolobium spp)
  • Yam bean (Pachyrrizus erosus)