Analysis of Yield Gaps in Black Gram (Vigna mungo) in District Bilaspur of Himachal Pradesh

Black gram (V. mungo) is one of the important pulse crops in India which plays an important role in supplementing the income of small and marginal farmers. Non adoption of improved varieties and recommended practices is one of the reasons for low productivity in this crop. Improved technological package was compared with that of farmers' practice in the Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh during kharif 2006 to 2009. The results revealed that the use of improved variety, line sowing and balanced application of fertilizers under the improved practice increased seed yield of mash by 34.1 to 81.6% over farmer practice. Improved technological package gave 33.7% higher gross return and 70.4% higher net return over the prevalent practice of the farmers. The average additional cost and additional net return of INR 3003 and INR 10715 were recorded from 2006 to 2009. Incremental benefit cost ratio (IBCR) ranged from 3.10 to 4.64 with an average value of 3.55. The water use efficiency has also been increased by using the improved agricultural technologies in the demonstrations.