Cultivation of various crops

(1) Barley crop cultivation

Barley crop can be grown in Rabi season. The normal sowing season extends from middle of October to middle of November. At elevations of about 2300meters the barley can be grown as irrigated crop with sowing time from end of March to end of May.

land Preparation: Three or four ploughings with 'desi' plough or one ploughing with modernized iron plough would be adequate. The soil to have good tilth and free from weeds. To protect the crop from white ants and other soil pests, the soil may be treated with BHC(10%) at the rate of 20Kg/hectare or Aldrin dust(5%) at 10-15 Kg per hectare after the last ploughing.

Seed treatment: The seed should be treated with Agrosan GN or Ceresan at the rate of 2kg per Kg of seed to prevent seed borne diseases. The seed can also be treated with Vitavax at the rate of 2gm per Kg of seed to prevent loose smut or covered smut.

Seed rate: 200-250 Kg of seed may be used per hectare to ensure uniform stand. The row to row spacing of the crop may be 20-25 cm and depth of sowing to be 4-7cm.

Application of manure: A 1000 Kg of farm yard manure or compost may be used as a basal dose.

Irrigation: In case of water shortage during tillering stage of the crop application of one irrigation at that stage would be beneficial to the crop. In general, four to five irrigations would be sufficient during entire period of crop growth.

Harvesting: Fully ripenened crop need to be cut with sickle preferably during morning hours on sunny days. The crop can be threshed with treading. The winnowed grains to be dried completely before storage in moisture proof areas.

Yield: The average yield is about 700-1000 Kg per hectare.

(2) Field pea cultivation:

Field preparation: Give several ploughings, level the land. Well drained,free from water logging conditions required. The best soil PH is 6 to 6.5.

Seed rate: 30 kg/Ha. plant to plant spacing to be 5 to 15 cm and row to row spacing to be 15-30 cm.

Manure and fertilizer: FYM 20 tonnes/ha. 60 to 70 kg of DAP. Application of Zinc Sulphate and Dolomite required to avoid chlorisis.

Irrigation: light irrigation

Plant protection: For fungal diseases like powerdery mildew spray two times Sulfex or hexasual at the rate of 3 kg/ha in 1000 litres of water.

Infestation: Pod borer

Treatment: Spray Endosulfan at the rate of 1.25 litre/1000 litres of water.

Harvesting: On ripening of the crop, harvest. Thresh and dry in the sun and store the seeds for future use.

Yield: 8 to 12 quintals/hectare.

(3) Finger millet cultivation

This crop can be grown in areas with rainfall ranging from 50 to 100 cm and also in the irrigated areas. The crop can be grown as pure crop or mixed crop in rotation. The crop can be grown in rotation with sorghum,pulses and variety of oilseeds. This crop can also be grown as off-season crop in rice fallow. It can also be rotated with chillies or vegetables under irrigated conditions.

Sowing: The rainfed crop is generally sown during May or June and harvested in september to October.

Land Preparation: Two ploughings are suffice.

Seed rate: 8-10 Kg per hectare.

Harvesting: The crop flowers in 60-80 days and matures at about 130 days. The crop is to be cut above the ground, ear removed from the stacked sheaves. Cured for few days and threshed.

Application of maure/fertilizers: Application of Nitrogenous fertilizers would be beneficial.

Yield: The average yield for rainfed crop is 10-15 quintals/hectare and 40-50 quintals/hectare in case of irrigated crop.

(4) Groundnut cultivation

Groundnut is an important oil producing seed with 44-50 percent oil content depending on the varieties and agronomic conditions. The crop is a self-pollinating crop and generally pollination takes place in the mornings. The crop can be grown upto an elevation of 1000m. The rainfall requirement is from 500mm to 1250mm. The rainfall requirement for preparatory cultivation is 100mm; for sowing 150mm and for flowering and pod development 400-500mm. The crop cannot stand frost, long and severe drought or water stagnation. The crop is generally grown as Kharif crop and can be grown with rotation of wheat, Jowar, bajra, gram, castor, Paddy, cotton and some other garden crops.

Sowing: May-June depending on the onset of monsoon rains.

Late sowing: August to early september. Irrigated crop can be grown between May and July and also between January and March.

Land Preparation: The field is to be given two ploughings and the soil is to be pulverized well to obtain good tilth. Third ploughing may be necessary before sowing after the onset of rains.

Seed treatment: Healthy and well-developed pods should be hand shelled or shelled with suitable groundnut sheller about a fortnight before sowing. The well-filled kernels should be treated with 5g Thiram or 3g Captan per Kilogram of Kernels. The seed is to be sown at a depth of 8-10cm. The row-to-row spacing varies from 10-60cm depending on the varieties.

Seed rate: 110-120 Kg per hectare.

Weeding: The crop requires first hand weeding and one or two hoeings at about 3 weeks after sowing and second and third about a fortnight and a month later

Irrigation: For rainfed crop, during the pod formation, if the crop is caught in drought, a supplemental irrigation is required. For irrigated crop, the irrigation need to be applied with an interval of 8-12 days.

Harvesting: When the leaves of the crop turn yellow, shedding of older leaves takes place, development of proper color of the testa and dark tint inside the shell appear, the crop to be pulled out with plants stacked for a few days for drying and are to be stripped afterwards. The striped pods are to be cleaned and dried to a safe moisture content of not more than 5%.

Infestation: Spraying of Methyl demethon, 0.025% or Dechrotophos or Metasystox or parathion or 0.05% Endosulphan is recommended for aphid control. Spraying of 0.05% Dichrotophos or Femithothion for leaf miners. Dusting with BHC 10% or spraying of Metasystox 0.05% recommended for effective control of caterpillars. For white grub, spot-treatment with Phorate or Mephospholan granules at the rate of 1.5 Kg per hectare or drilling of Aldrin at the rate of 1.5 Kg per hectare in to the soil before planting is recommended. Four sprayings of Benlate or Bavistin at the rate of 0.05% at 14-21 days interval starting with 4-6 weeks after sowing gives an effective control of tikka leaf spot. Dry seed dressing with Thiram or Captan @ 4 g/Kg of seed recommended for collar-rot. Spraying of Hinosan at the rate of 0.02% is recommended to check the spread of pathogen.

Yield: 1200-1400 Kg per hectare for rainfed crop

300kg supplement irrigation per hectare.

5. Maize cultivation

Land preparation: Soil should be pulverized and should be free from clods, stubbles of previous crop and weeds.

Seed treatment: Seeds to be treated with bio-fertilizers at the rate of 200 gm of Azotobactor and phosphotica in 400 ml of water per 10 Kg of seeds so that the seed is well coated with bio-fertilizers. The seed should be dried in shade before sowing.

time of sowing for lower elevation is february to march, for higher elevations march to april and Maize rabi, July to august in lower hills.

seed depth: 5-6 cm deep below the soil. Ensure sufficient moisture availability.

Seed spacing: the recommended row to row spacing is 2 ft and plant to plant spacing is 7-10 inches.

Application of fertilizers: 1000 Kg or 50 baskets of well rotten manure/compost.

(6) Rajma cultivation:

Field preparation: Two ploughings to be made and the soil must be pulverized with levelled field. The field should be well drained, resistant to water logging. Better the area is semi dry. Best yields can be obtained if the soil PH is 6 to 6.5.

Seed rate/sowing time: The seed requirement is 40-50 Kg/ha of land. The point to point spacing for the crop is to be 10-15cm and row to row spacing to be 30cm and the seeds to be sown at a depth of 5 to 7 cm for absorbing moisture.

Seed treatment: The seed to be treated with Thiram or Captaf at the rate of 4.5 gm per Kg of seed and requirement of Rhyzobium as bio-fertilizer is 200 gm for every 28 Kg of seed mixed with 1250 ml of cooled off boiled rice starch or water. The seed to be dried in shade before sowing for 30 minutes.

Irrigation: Critical stage for irrigation is 20-25 days after the seed is sown. Under sufficient rainfall conditions, the number of irrigations can be reduced.

Plant protection: Anthracnose or any leaf diseases can be controlled by normal spraying of Diathene M-45 or Captaf in every 10 to 15 days interval at the rate of one gm/litre of water in case of Captaf and 2 gm/litre of water in case of Diathene M-45.

Infestation: Pod borer

Mitigation: Apply spray of Endosulfan at the rate of 1 to 2 liters/500 liters of water per Ha.

Harvesting: The harvesting to be done when the pod is brown in color and to be done only after 115 to 125 days for maturity. Dry the harvested crop for 2 to 3 days in the sun and thresh by bullocks. The clean seeds can be preserved and stored in seed bins for use.

Yield: 9 to 12 quintals per hectare of land.

(7)Rapeseed and Mustard cultivation

Rapeseed and Mustard is the most important oil seeds with oil content of 30 to 48 percent. This crop is grown as Rabi crop from September to October to February to March. The rainfall requirement of the crop is 25 to 40 cm.

Land Preparation: For rainfed areas, one or two ploughings followed by planking required. For irrigated areas, first ploughing need to be done with soil turning plough and subsequently two or more ploughings with cultivator folowed by planking required. A fine seed bed is a must for good germination.

Seed rate: 5 Kg per hectare.

Sowing: The seed should be healthy and desirable. The seed is to be mixed with moist soil and kept overnight. For even distribution, the seed is to be mixed with sand. The row to row spacing of 30 cm and plant to plant spacing of 10 to 15 cm is recommended. The seed is to be sown in a depth of 4-5 cm. One or two hoeings adequate in third week after sowing.

Fertilizers: 40 Kg of Nitrogent to be applied per hectare for rainfed crops.

Irrigation: Two irrigations would be adequate with one at the stage of flowering and another at the stage of pod formation.

harvesting: The crop is to be harvested as soon as the crop turned yellow.(70-90 days after sowing) and is to be done with sickles. Threshing can be done by beating. Winnowing and cleaning may be done subsequently. The seed is then to be dried in the sun before storage.

Infestation: Methyl demeton (0.02%) or Dimethoate (0.03%) or Phosphomidon 0.03% two or three times need to be sprayed depending on the intensity of aphide. Dusting with BHC 10% at the rate of 25 Kg per hectare recommended for mustard sawfly. Application of Aldrin dust 5% or Heptachlor or Chlordane at the rate of 25 Kg per hectare by drilling into the soil is recommended for control of cutworms. Spraying with Dithane M-45 or Difolation at the rate of 11/2 Kg per hectare is recommended for control of blight/rust.

Yield: The average yield of rapeseed and Mustard is 500 Kg per hectare.

(8) Rice cultivation

There are two main seasons for growing Rice. Kharif and Rabi. In some parts, even three crops of Rice are grown. Rice is essentially a short-day plant. A combination of temperature, photoperiod, light intensity determines the growth period, crop performance and productivity. For growing Rice, the principal systems followed are 'dry', 'semi-dry' and 'Wet'. The dry and semi-dry systems of cultivations of the crop depend on rains and do not have supplementary irrigation facilities. In Wet system, the crop is grown with assured and adequate supply of weater either by way of rainfall or by irrigation.

Dry and Semidry systems: for this system of rice crop the field should have good tilth that can be achieved by ploughing and harrowing. Farm yard manure/compost is to be distributed uniformly 2-3 weeks before sowing. The seeds can be sown either by broadcasting or drilling. Line sowing would facilitate weeding and interculture.

Sowing: The row to row spacing in case of drill sowing is 20 to 25 cm.

Wet system: For this system of rice crop, the land is to be ploughed throughly and puddled with 3-5 cm of standing water in the field. The optimum depth of puddling is found to be around 10 cm in clay and clay-loamy soils. The land is to be levelled after puddling to facilitate a uniform distribution of water and fertilizers. Seeds may be sown after sprouting or the seedlings may be transplanted.

Seed rate: The seed rate for direct sowing by broadcasting is 80 to 100 Kg/ha and by dibbling it is 70 Kg/ha. Only well-filled and viable seeds to be used. Lighter seeds that float on a solution of common salt should be rejected.

Seed treatment: The seeds need to be treated with Agrosan at the rate of 100 gm per 50 Kg of seeds to prevent seed-borne diseases. The untreated high yielding varieties should be soaked for 12 hours in a solution of wettable Ceresan (0.1%). The seeds to be then throughly dried in shade before sowing.

Nursery Preparation: The nursery area required to provide seedlings for transplanting one hectare is roughly 1/10 hectare and seed rate 50 Kg/ha. To ensure rapid and uniform germination selected seeds to be soaked for 24 hours in clean water which should be drained away thereafter and the seeds be incubated in a warm, moist place for 36-48 hours to let them sprout for sowing in the nursery. For nursery rising, DAPOG method may also be used.

Wet Nursery: The site selected for nursery should be near the assured source of irrigation. The land is ploughed twice in the dry conditions and puddled susbsequently by ploughing in standing water of 2-3cm, three or four times, preferably, in the interval of 5-6 days. Farmyard Manure or compost to be uniformly applied at the rate of 5-8 tonnes per hectare of land at the time of first puddling, 3-4 weeks before sowing of nursery. The field is to be levelled prefectly after the final puddling and made in to raised beds of 1 to 1 1/2 meters in width and of convenient length, leaving 30 cm of channel on all sides in between the beds. Seed bed fertilizers of 0.5 Kg of Nitrogen, 0.5 Kg of Phosphorous, 0.5 Kg of potash for every 100 sq.meters of area of the nursery may be applied before the final levelling of the nusery beds. When the seedlings are at the 4-5 leaf stage, the nursery is adequately irrigated and the seedlings are removed without causing any damage to the roots.

Dry Nursery: The field is to be brought to a very fine tilth by ploughing it four to five times at 4-5 days interval. Farm yard compost/manure of 10-15 tonnes per hectare is to be spread uniformly 2-3 weeks before sowing. Raised beds of 1-1 1/2 meteres width, 15 cm in height and of convenient length is to be prepared. A channel width of 40-50 cm may be prepared all around to facilitate drainage. The seeds are sown dry either by broadcasting or line sowing. The nursery beds are irrigated once in 2-3 days depending on the soil and environmental conditions.

DAPOG method: In places where assured water supply is available and early transplantation is required there the seedlings can be grown on a concrete floor or on a raised bed of soil covered with polythene sheets. A samll area is required for raising this type of nursery is 30-40 sq.cm for one hectare of main field. The seedlings are ready after 14 days by using this method. Raised seed beds are prepared after final levelling and are packed, levelled and covered with polythene sheets. Pre-germinated seeds should be sown on the top of these sheets at the rate of one Kg of seed per sq.m of the nursery. The germinating seeds are sprinkled with water and pressed down gently with hand or with flat wooden board twice a day for first 3-6 days. After six days, the seed bed can be irrigated up to a depth of 1-2 cm of water. The seedlings can then be divided into convenient sizes and rolled like mat with roots upward. It is necessary to control water level in the main field on to which the seedlings are to be transplanted with 'dapog' seedlings. Generally, six to eight seedlings are placed in a hill.

Transplanting: The seedlings are ready for transplanting in Kharif within 20-25 days and for Rabi, the same is 30-40 days. Two or three seedlings are planted at 200 sq.cm or 300 sq.cm spacing on a level field.

Interculture and weeding: Manual or mechanical weeding methods are recommended. Weeding with hoe or rotary weeders is preferable. For Rice, it is ideal to maintain weed free field conditions up to 40-45 days after sowing.

Harvesting: Timely harvesting is essential to avoid shedding of grains. The later stage of grain-ripening is a dehydration process and maturity is hastened when water is withdrawn from the field at the hardening stage of the rice crop. For harvesting, early or medium varieties, 25-30 days after flowering and 35-40 days after flowering in case of tall varieties is recommended. Field paddy is to be harvested when the moisture content of the grain is 20-25 percent. Gradual drying in shed is essential for better recovery in the mills.

Storage: Controlled mechanical drying is recommended before storage in a moist free space.

(9) Sesame cultivation

Sesame is also known as 'til' or 'Gingelly'. this is an important oil yielding crop with oil content of 46 to 52 percent.

The crop can be grown at elevations upto 1200 meters. This crop cannot stand frost, continued heavy rains, prolonged drought. The optimum soil PH ranges from 5.5 to 8.2. The sesame crop can be grown as summer crop, Kharif crop and also as semi-rabi crop.

Land preparation: The land should be ploughed and hurrowed repeatedly for clean and fine seed beed. The seed can be sown as broadcast or line sowing. The row to row spacing is 25 to 35 cm and plant to plant spacing 10 to 20 cm. The seed is to mixed with sand and to be sown shallow to ensure even distribution. The seed should be covered with brush harrow after sowing .

Seed rate: 3 to 5 kg per hectare.

Seed treatment: The seed is to be treated with Captan or Thiram at the rate of 3g per Kg of seed to control seed borne diseases.

Weeding:

The rainfed crop is to be weeded once or twice and irrigated crop to be weeded often.

Manure: The crop can go without manuring. However, 25-30 Kg of Nitrogen, 20-30 Kg of p2o5 and 10-20 Kg k2o per hectare is recommended.

Harvesting: The crop is to be harvested when the leaves, stems and capsule begin to turn yellow and lower leaves start shedding. The crop should not be allowed to dead ripe in the field. The crop can be cut, threshed and stacked for a week in the sun. The stacks can be beaten to take out the grains from the dry capsules. Then can be winnowed and cleaned.

Infestation: Two sprays of Carbaryl 0.2% or Endosulphan 0.5 Kg can be used on 40th day or 60th day after sowing to control the leaf-eating caterpillar and gall fly pests. Further, three sprays of Agrimycin at the rate of 100 PPM at 15 days interval is needed to control bacterial leaf-spot. The spray of Phosphomidan 0.05% or Dimethoate 0.05% recommended for control of Phyllody or leaf-curl.

Yield: 200-500 Kg per hectare for Kharif crop and 300-600 Kg Per hectare for summer irrigated crop and semi-rabi crop.

(10) Wheat cultivation

Wheat is the second most important crop after Rice. The crop requires cool winters and hot summers and the conditions yield good wheat crop. The wheat crop can be grown as both rainfed and irrigated crop. Sowing of the crop in rainfed areas commence from the middle of October and may continue till end of October. Sowing of wheat in rainfed areas predominantly depends on the conserved soil moisture from the preceeding monsoon. The irrigated wheat crop is generally planted in the month of November. The annual requirement of rainfall is in the range of 12.5 cm to 100 cm. In winter, when wheat is in the field rainfall ranges anywhere between 3cm to 7cm.

The available photo-insensitive varieties may be adopted for sowing and harvesting of wheat crop by third week of march become essential due to onset of pre-monsoon rains.

Rabi wheat can follow the Kharif crops like maize, Jowar, Bajra, Cotton and arhar.

Land Preparation: This crop requires well-pulverized but compact seed bed for good germination. Three or four ploughings, repeated harrowing, followed by three or four cultivatores and planking before sowing produce good seed bed. For irrigated crop, pre-sowing irrigation need to be given and the number of ploughings can be reduced. For Irrigated crop, the optimum time for sowing the medium/long duration wheat "Kalyamsona" is first fornight of November. For short duration varieties, "Sonalika", the second fortnight of November is considered as optimum time. The late sowings can go up to third week of December. The growing of wheat, when temperatures are high, results in poor stand, poor tillering, attack by root-infesting fungi and pests and early onset of flowering.

Sowing: Seed is sown by broadcasting or drilling. Kera method can also be followed for seed sowing. Sowing by seed drills deposits the seed at uniform depth, which gives uniform stand and leads to early emergence of uniform seedlings. For irrigated and timely sown seeds, 22.5 cm row spacing is considered optimum. Under irrigated, late sown cases, the row to row spacing is 15-18 cm is optimum. For dwarf varieties, the sowing depth is between 5-6 cm and for tall varieties, the sowing depth is between 8 to 9 cm. For moist soils, the sowing should be shallow and for rough,dry and light soils the sowing should be deep. The soil should be free from seed-borne diseases, weeds and should have good germination capacity.

Seed rate: For shy-tillering varieties, the seed is to be 100-125 Kg per hectare and for medium size grains, 75-100 Kg per hectare. For late sown varieties, seed rate is to be high as 125 Kg/ha. Under rainfed conditions, the seed rate of 100 Kg/ha is generally recommended.

Irrigation: For wheat sown under irrigated conditions, 4-6 irrigations are needed. The first irrigation should be given at crown-root initiation stage about 20-25 days of the sowing. Other irrigations should be given at late tillering, late jointing, flowering , milk and dough stages. Two or three more irrigations are needed where the soils are very light and sandy.

Manure and fertilizer application: Rainfed wheat in the majority of the cases is not fertilized by farmers due to economic reasons. It is recommended that 2-3 tonnes of farm yard manure per hectare or some other organic matter is applied 5 to 6 weeks before sowing. Forty Kg of Nitrogen, 20 Kg of Phosphorous per hectare recommended to boost the wheat yield. The fertilizers need to be applied 10 cm deep at or before sowing. If Zinc deficiency reported, a dose of 50 Kg of Zinc sulphate per hectare is recommended. For moderate deficient zones, the dose can be reduced to 25 Kg per hectare.

Harvesting and storage: The crop is to be harvested when the grains harden and straw becomes dry and brittle. The harvesting time generally vary from zone to zone but better in the end of February. Generally, for wheat the peak harvesting season is march. Harvesting is generally done by hand-held sickles and threshing by traditional methods. The grains to be throughly dried before storage. Grains for storage should not have more than 10% moisture.

Yield: 3 to 4 quintals for rainfed crops and high as much as 100 to 115 quintals per hectare in case of irrigated crops.