The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Pigeon Pea

(Cajanus indicus), a perennial plant of the legume family, subfamily Papilionaceae. It grows as a bush 0.5–3.5 m high with a coarse uneven ribbed stem. The ternate leaves are elongated and lanceolate with thick fuzz toward the base. The blossoms are large and grow five to nine on each peduncle. The beans are short and flat. The seeds measure 0.5–0.8 mm in diameter.

Pigeon peas have been cultivated for more than 2,500 years. Crops are grown in Southeast and Southwest Asia, in tropical Africa, in Central and South America, and in northern Australia. The young beans are used as food; in nutritional value and taste they resemble green peas. The mature seeds are used to feed stock and fowl. In some countries they are fed to scale insects, producing raw material for making shellac (resin). They are also planted in large numbers as green fertilizer and on slopes to fight erosion. There are test plantings of pigeon peas in the USSR in the southern regions of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea and also in Middle Asia.

N. P. IVANOV

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References in periodicals archive

Sesame accounted for 40.3% and the pigeon pea for 39.2% of biomass input contribution in Farm 1, whereas in the Farm 2 the main crops responsible were pigeon pea, maize and sesame with 31.3%, 27.1% and 22.7% of total input respectively.

Combined effect of intercropping and minimum tillage on soil carbon sequestration and organic matter pools in the semiarid region of Brazil

Compared to pigeon pea, the lablab bean led to increase of 27.3% for this same variable.

Agronomic performance of lettuce subjected to green manure with different leguminous species/Performance agronomica da alface submetida a adubacao verde com diferentes especies leguminosas

In general, when coffee seedlings are planted between pigeon pea lines ("tunnels"), fewer CLM are observed (CARAMORI, 2000).

Effect of pigeon pea intercropping or shading with leucaena plants on the occurrence of the coffee leaf miner and on its predation by wasps in organic coffee plantings/Efeito da consorciacao com feijao-guandu ou sombreamento com plantas de leucena na Ocorrencia do Bicho-mineiro e sua predacao por vespas em lavouras de cafe organico

Antioxidant activities of extracts and main components of Pigeon pea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] leaves.

Antihyperglycemic effects of Cajanus cajan L. (pigeon pea) ethanolic extract on the blood glucose levels of ICR mice (Mus musculus L.)

Commonly grown legumes: cowpea, bambara nut, groundnut as well as introduced legumes, pigeon pea and tepary bean were tested.

Climate smart crops for food and nutritional security for semi-arid zones of Zimbabwe

Grain yield has been used as the main variable in path analysis with pigeon pea (Vange & Moses, 2009; Devi et al., 2012; Birhan et al., 2013; Singh et al., 2013; Chaithanya et al., 2014), crambe (Cargnelutti Filho et al., 2010) and sunflower (Amorim et al., 2008; Martin et al., 2012) traits.

Linear relations among pigeon pea traits

The first year involved planting cowpea, pigeon pea, and maize as sole crops, legume/legume, and legume/cereal in-row intercrops.

Pigeon Pea and Cowpea-Based Cropping Systems Improve Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Colonisation of Subsequent Maize on the Alfisols in Central Malawi

Rainfall range of between 54 and 372.3 mm, maximum and minimum air temperature of 34.2 and 23.7 oC respectively and 3-10 rainy days from June to October during the crop growth periods (Table 1) was adequate to support pigeon pea production in Sudano-sahelian ecology of Nigeria.

EVALUATION OF INTRODUCED PIGEONPEA (CAJANUSCAJAN (L.) MILLSP.) GENOTYPES FOR GROWTH AND YIELD PERFORMANCE IN SUDANO-SAHELIAN ECOLOGY OF NIGERIA

However, the content was slightly higher than the biscuit containing pigeon pea biscuits (19.19% to 19.75%) [22].

Dehydrated Maydis stigma enhances nutritional and antioxidative capacities of butter cookies

The Gates Foundation is reportedly funding additional research by Purdue to determine if PICS (now dubbed Purdue Improved Crop Storage) can help control "storage insect pests of other crops including maize, sorghum, wheat, rice, peanut, common bean, hibiscus seed, mung bean, pigeon pea, and bambara groundnut."

Plastics deliver hope--and sustainability--in developing countries: millions of lives are being affected by unique plastic products that address basic needs

His farm is neatly ploughed and terraced, his pigeon pea plants the only green stems in acres of dry soil.

The story of Makueni County: in an increasingly dry part of eastern Kenya, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa has worked with smallholders to build their resilience to climate change while improving their linkages to markets and creating new rural economies