Introduction:

• Grain legumes rank fourth after rice, maize, and wheat in acreage and production in Nepal. Rural poverty remains pervasive throughout Nepal where the per capita gross domestic product is $233 (Anon, 2003).
• A predominantly agrarian nation, with 40% of the GNP derived from agriculture and between 70 and 80% of the population or about 3.3 million families engaged in agriculture (Devkota, 2005), the country is the poorest in South Asia.
• The principal foods are cereals (rice, maize, and wheat) with grain legumes grown as secondary crops during the dry and cool winter (Rabi), mostly in paddy fields using their residual moisture for plant establishment.
• The word “legume‟ is derived from the Latin “legere‟ meaning “to gather‟ and legume pods are collected.
• Grain legumes are a crop that belongs to the family Leguminosae and has high seed protein content and the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen into the soil via symbiosis with Rhizobium bacteria.
• Lentil, pigeon pea, chickpea, grass pea, and mung bean are the major pulses produced and consumed in the terai whereas black gram, soybean, cowpea, and horse gram are grown mostly in hills and valleys.