Horse Gram (Kulthi)

Water

Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 330 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 30 mm it can use in a normal year (20 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 200 mm from the monsoon at sowing.

Temperature

Grows best at 20–28 °C on average, and survives 17–35 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

• Oct 30 °C / 21 °C
• Nov 28 °C / 17 °C
• Dec 28 °C / 13 °C
• Jan 28 °C / 13 °C

Soil

Soil for Horse Gram (Kulthi): 8 out of 10 (good).

• The pH here suits it.
• Low nitrogen matters less: it makes its own.
• Many fields here are short of phosphorus, which it needs a lot.
• Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.

Likes pH 5.5–7.0.

Money

Yield: about 1.3 quintals an acre here (district figures).

On rain alone it gets about 71% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 71% of this yield.

Mandi price at last season's harvest (March 2026): about ₹4,000 a quintal across mandis in your state.

This week: about ₹4,963 a quintal, the middle of 12 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would lose about ₹1,000 a season at typical costs.

Prices are usually best in March.

Typical costs are about ₹6,000 an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.