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them. About 10% of the Earth's land surPacc ia arable that is f~st approaching saturatioil,
with only 1% of water available for ci~lt~vat~o~i and wit11 inevitable population outburst
there is an ii~creasiilg concern of how to feed people as cautioned by enliile~lt economist of
yesteryears. Malthus. When domarid was n~orc than the supply, 1960a witnessed mqor
cllailgss by revolutionary agricultural outpiils, nil put 1ogetll~'r under the iilsj)iring phrase
'Greei~ Revolution' that was carefully crafcd by cini~le~~t brccdcr Nonnan Borlaug, who
was riglltly awa~ded ll~e Noble Prize for pence. lilcepted \vilh wlleat and cxtendcd to
almost all the crops, green rsvolution paved the way to light up smiles OII the faces of the
hungry tl~ougll it shot down the world food prices. 'This led to a more sustainable
agriculture, land use efficiency and opened tile doors to nlany hopeful avenues, wh~ch
could address various other imminent problenls. These results came wllcn delllographic
realities were seiiding ripplcs throiigh the scientific community about thc ways and means
to manage {lie yioblcms of starvation and n~alnutr~tioii. With over 6 billion pcolllc on
board, an est~inated increase of 1.7 bill~ons inore by 2020 and wit11 around 800 million
people still statrving, tbcre are more questiuns t11ni1 answers. Nevenheless, all the efforrs
put togetlier will record an est~mated increase in the oniu~al growl11 rate of 2.6% food grain
productloti wllile popiilat~oii increase rate ii l:iUA. Uuto~.tunatcly evcii hit11 these results
the iiunger atill rcmalns sii:ce the outputs are not reaching the nccdy because oi'tl~e low
purchasing power and standard of living. Tllesc concerns led to cultivation of alternative
food suppleincnts such as leguines other than the popular cereals.
Pulses are dry seed legumes that h;i\e relatively lesser nutritional popularity.
Nutritionally i~nportant pods bearing seeds and herbaceous naturc ci~aracterize these crops.
More thaii 50% of the world pulse y~eld 1s being co~ltrlbuted by Asia-Pacific region. The
proteii~ and oil rich seeds of these plants liave an ~nd~spcnsable coiisidcratiou in the human
diet and aniil~al fezd as bod additives. Fcrmcntcd or processed seeds make preferred