Horse gram grown in parts of India, as well as Nepal, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and is introduced to the West Indies.

It is clad in varying amounts of whitish hairs and bears alternate, trifoliate leaves with petioles up to 7 cm (2.8 in) long.

The flowers are borne in twos or threes in the leaf axils, and are typical of the bean family with banner, wings and keel.

[5] Horse gram is native to tropical southern Asia and has been found in archaeological sites in India, starting from 2500 BC.

Additionally, the crop is also grown for fodder and green manure in tropical countries in southeastern Asia, and in northern Australia.

Other diseases affecting horse gram are dry root rot (Macrophomina phaseolina), rusts, aerial blight (Rhizoctonia solani) and leaf spot (Cercospora).

The fermentation in the colon often may lead to flatulence and diarrhoea, given the high concentration of both, resistant starches and oligo-saccharides, for horse gram longer cooking times, and other treatments are needed.

[9] Enzymatic treatments with xylanase has the goal to improve the functional and expansive properties of horse gram seeds in order to facilitate the use as an ingredient in the food industry.

By following a high temperature short time (HTST) treatment, the content of phytic acid, tannins and protease-inhibitors could be reduced by 46%, 61% and 92% respectively.

[7] A large amount of drought resistance genes exist in horse gram and grain yield enhancement represents the main breeding goal.

[16] Many unfavorable traits such as late flowering, indeterminate twining growth habit, long and thin stem, thermo- and photosensitivity and a poor harvest index exist in horse gram.

[7] The digestability and processability improvements described in Nutrition section implicitly suggest to consider the reduction of phytic acid content, tannins and protease-inhibitors as additional breeding goals.

Scientists from the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology have found that unprocessed raw horse gram seeds not only possess antihyperglycemic properties[citation needed], but also have qualities which reduce insulin resistance.

Raw horse gram seed is rich in polyphenols, flavonoids, and proteins, major antioxidants present in fruits and other food materials.