Model Question and Answers for APSC | Mention the advantages of the cultivation of pulse because of which the year 2016 was declared the International Year of Pulses by the United Nations.

Ans: Food is responsible for about a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. These gases trap the sun's heat and lead to climate change. Pulses can help in this regard.

The advantages of the cultivation of pulse

Soil enrichment:

• Pulses naturally produce their own nitrogen. They take nitrogen from the air in the soil and get the bacteria living in specialized pockets in their roots to “fix,” or trap, the nitrogen so that it stays in the soil in a form that is readily available for plants to use.
• Since nitrogen is a primary component of fertilizer, pulses basically produce their own Their roots, left in the ground after the crop has been harvested, leave nitrogen behind for the next crop so it doesn’t need as much fertiliser.
• This will reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides while still contributing to an increase in yields. Thus input costs are lowered along with less air and water pollution
• And let’s not forget the benefits of leaving all our plant trash in the It makes the soil healthier, and more productive and turns it into a better carbon sink.
• Plant residue helps the soil trap water better, and the water moves deeper into the ground so soil moisture increases.

Higher yield and Carbon emission reduced:

• Over a nine-year test in the prairies, planting a sequence of pulse-pulse- durum wheat every three years yielded 13 per cent more wheat than did planting grain-grain-durum wheat.

• Planting pulses also reduced the carbon footprint of the durum wheat by 34 per cent: the farmers used less fertilizer and less fuel and saved more carbon.
• Couple that with zero-till, where we do not plough and clear the land but rather punch seeds in with special drills. All that carbon, water and nitrogen stay trapped in the soil and do not enter the atmosphere, and reduce emissions by 25 per cent to 50 per cent.

Future food security:

• There are hundreds of different varieties of pulses and only a limited number of these are widely grown.
• It is from this diversity that climate-resilient varieties (which are adaptive) to changes in temperature and have the ability to grow in poor soils or under drought conditions can be derived.

Superfood:

• The pulses are also highly They contain vitamins and micronutrients, and are incredibly rich in protein, with two-to-four times the protein content of cereal grains and significantly more iron, folate and zinc, which are crucial for good health and eyesight.
• A diet of nutrient-dense pulses can benefit young and adolescent girls. Pulses can be especially valuable to children who suffer from stunted growth and are underweight and malnourished because of insufficient amounts of a diet largely based on cereals with limited nutrients.
• The combination of disease-preventing micronutrients and high protein content of pulses, along with their relatively easy, cheap cultivation, truly merits the term “superfood.”

Scientists are currently working on the development of pulses which should be able to grow at temperatures above the crop’s normal “comfort zone”. Since climate experts suggested that heat stress will be the biggest threat to bean production in the coming decades, these improved pulse varieties will be of critical importance, especially for low-input agricultural production systems.