It’s time to banish fears around ‘Khesari Dal’ and relish the nutritious legume
- December 18, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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It’s time to banish fears around ‘Khesari Dal’ and relish the nutritious legume
Subject :Geography
Section: Eco geography
About Khesari Dal or Grass Pea (Lathyrus sativus):
- The legume (Lathyrus sativus) is also known as khesari dal in Hindi, lang in Marathi and laag in Gujarati.
- It is also known as cicerchia, blue sweet pea, chickling pea, chickling vetch, Indian pea, white pea and white vetch.
- It resembles toor dal (pigeon pea).
- It is commonly grown for human consumption and livestock feed in Asia and East Africa.
- It is one of the cheapest legumes and grows easily in fallow fields, can be rotated with any crop and needs little to no investment.
- It is also tolerant to drought, salinity and water logging and resistant to pests and biotic stress.
- In terms of nutrition, grass pea has high levels of proteins, second only to soybean, and even has the compound L-homoarginine that is beneficial to heart health.
Why was it banned in India:
- It has been infamous for causing lathyrism, an irreversible neurological disease that leads to paralysis of lower limbs.
- Researchers identified the culprit as a chemical in the seed, ß-N-oxalyl-L-a, ß-diaminopropionic acid (ß-ODAP).
- In 1961, India banned the sale and storage of grass peas under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, of 1954.
- The ban was followed by all states except Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
- However, the government did not ban cultivation as farmers said it was used as animal feed.
New varieties:
- FSSAI allowed incidental presence (2%) in other grains in 2021.
- In 1966, the first variety with low ß-ODAP, Pusa 24, was released for cultivation.
- In 1995, the government launched an All India Coordinated Research Project on MULLaRP (Mungbean, Urd-bean, Lentil, Lathyrus, Rajmash and Pea), under which the crops are promoted and high-yielding varieties are developed.
Source: Down To Earth