Horse gram-Harvest and storage
Horse gram reaches harvest maturity in around 100 – 110 days after sowing. At this time, the pods turn straw colour. The stage is generally 25-30 days from 50% flowering.
Upon ripening, the horse gram pods will turn from buff green to straw colour. This is the right stage for harvest for seed purpose. Delay in harvest will lead to shattering of pods and infection by diseases and pests.
The plants come to even harvest and are cut using sickles. The harvested plants are spread over the threshing floor to dry. The plants will dry and become straw colour while some pods shatter.
The plants are then beaten using pliable sticks to prevent damage to seeds. After thorough beating, the seeds are separated from pods. The plant debris are removed and seeds cleaned by winnowing.
Cleaned seeds are then dried on tarpaulin on the threshing floor until the moisture content is reduced to 10 %. Grading is done using round holed sieves of size 3.2 mm.